To whom it may concern, in 2007 in the height of the war I was severely injured while on active duty. I was 19 years old. A child still. Upon returning home I was unable to walk properly, and put in a long term med unit for recovery. There I was given pain meds until ultimately I was discharged from service.  The next 5 years the va had me on heavy pain medication,  which started to become a habit (90 pills would last me 5 days and i was taking via nasal inhalation. . I found myself living my entire life around finding more pills. My breaking point was losing my jobs, my spouse, my home. I was done. I wanted to be. However I was so hooked that I had both a mental and physical barrier to stopping,  plus I really was still in pain every day. I was so desperate that I turned to Google. I read about kratom. How bad could it be, look what I've been doing to my body! It gave me life again. I've been taking it since. I purchased a new home, got married,  had 2 beautiful children. I'm no longer in crippling pain, I no longer hate my life. Banning kratom will create more addicts and suicides.