Kratom was the only thing that allowed me to successfully taper off high doses of legally prescribed extended release morphine. I'm a chronic pain patient and have been for over 10 years. My pain management doctor of 8 years decided one week after a lumbar fusion that I needed to be completely off of narcotics. Because I trust my doctors, I decided to go with that idea. My hope was that the fusion would heal my chronic back issues.

However, the fusion did not heal my pain. Only I did not know this for months and months afterward. But what I can say is that by using kratom, I was able to successfully go without narcotics for 2 years and still be able to function. It allowed me to come off of pharmaceuticals with little to no withdrawal. I was able to do physical therapy and all of the exercises I was prescribed. 

   If you're basing your decisions to schedule kratom based on FDA supposedly scientific information, you're harming your constituents more than helping them. As with many government entities that are taxpayer funded to help the people of our country, they are operating under that guise, all while in the back pocket of the DEA and other organizations that are not science-based. 

   Please do the citizens of Virginia a good turn. Keep kratom legal. It helps more people than you can ever know.