The following is the letter my Mother wrote after I started finding my way back.

August 18, 2018 

To Whom It May Concern: 

Kratom saved my daughter’s life. Danielle, my oldest daughter, who just turned 40, struggled with opioid addiction for well over a decade. During that time my daughter went from a responsible, caring and productive young woman to someone I no longer recognized although she was always beautiful. When it started to get bad, she initially had a well-paying job with benefits, security and chance for advancement. She lost that, in part due to her drug abuse, and from there things only got worse. She had a hard time finding and keeping jobs, she became financially irresponsible and stopped caring about basic things like family and keeping house. She was arrested several times and put on deferred adjudication so she has a criminal record. She had multiple doctors from which she was able to obtain prescriptions and also had contacts that supplied her with drugs illegally. 

During that time, she often said that she ‘missed me’ even though we were in constant contact. I was codependent and spent an untold amount of money keeping a roof over her head, paying her bills, etc. It took me a long, long time to stop enabling her. I missed my daughter, too. She was there in her body, but her personality was gone. She wasn’t my daughter, she was a stranger. While on opioids, her judgment was gone. She wasn’t able to make good decisions, had memory problems and was aggressively manipulative. I dreaded answering the phone for two reasons: the first that she might be stoned and it would be an upsetting conversation with a lot of drama and the second that I would get a call that she had overdosed and died or that she was in jail again. 

Eventually I ended up as legal guardian of her 12-year-old daughter and her daughter lived with me for several years. It was during that time that Danielle found Kratom and 

started on the road back to life. I started to see my daughter come back, started having intelligent conversations with her and saw her restored to emotional and physical health. Within a period of months, she went from opioid addiction to a ‘normal’ person. Her daughter continued to live with me while my daughter reestablished her life and eventually her daughter was able to return to live with her mother. 

I do not know a lot about Kratom, although I read a bit about it and keep up on the news that is published by major news organizations that has to do with legislation and the FDA. I’ve done enough research to know that Kratom is a safe and better alternative than other methods that try address opioid addiction. Although my evidence is anecdotal, I see the results and I strongly believe that this should be available and remain a legal alternative without restrictions. 

I cannot give exact statistics about the number opioid deaths per year (72,000 in 2017?) and I do not know how many people overdose every day and are saved, but I know it is extremely high. For that reason, I do not understand why Kratom is not part of the solution and, instead, is considered dangerous. 

My daughter is a whole person again. Kratom saved my daughter, plain and simple. 

I do not need to remain anonymous. I am not ashamed that my family went through and came out of opioid addiction. We are one of many, many families going through this agonizing hell on earth. But we came out on the other side. Please keep Kratom legal

.

Lois Betz