UPDATED 8-FACTOR ANALYSIS ON KRATOM RELEASED

Launch from Americankratom.org WASHINGTON, D.C. - September 16, 2021 - The American Kratom Association (AKA) highlighted significant findings in a new analysis that confirms kratom's safety profile and clearly demonstrates that the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) efforts to ban or restrict the herbal supplement are without merit.

"The recent 8-FA affirms what previous studies have concluded: that kratom is safe and that efforts by FDA and WHO to ban it are unfounded," said Mac Haddow, Senior Fellow of Public Policy at the American Kratom Association. "We are encouraged to have these results finalized prior to the World Health Organization's October meeting and hopeful that it and the thousands of public comments gathered so far in support of kratom will put the brakes on efforts to schedule this supplement under the Controlled Substances Act. What the kratom community has long urged for is reasonable oversight by FDA to ensure its safe manufacture and usage in the U.S. so that its benefits can be realized to the fullest extent possible."

"Our study concludes that there is no evidence kratom poses an imminent threat to public health and that kratom is not like opioids in its safety and addiction risks," said Dr. Jack Henningfield, who oversaw the 8-Factor Analysis. "Furthermore, our findings confirm the conclusion made by former Assistant Secretary of Health Brett Giroir that millions of people who use kratom as an opioid alternative or to treat opioid addiction would be at risk of relapse and overdose should possession of kratom become criminalized. In order to ensure safe use of kratom and to limit its abuse and misuse, our report concludes that such issues are best addressed by allowing the legal sale of kratom with appropriate FDA oversight as a dietary supplement and ingredient."