Hasta La Gadget!

Last week, after the Washington Post published its new Trump Revealed biography, the Republican Nominee was quick to give the book a harsh, “Don’t buy, boring!” review. While Trump may believe the reporting in the book is inaccurate, the Post decided…

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is moving to place the herbal supplement kratom on its list of Schedule I drugs, effectively banning a naturally occurring psychoactive substance that some say holds promise as a therapy for opioid addiction.

The DEA, in a notice published in the Federal Register this week, said it wants to include two active kratom ingredients in its most restrictive classification of drugs with high potential for abuse and no known medical benefit, signaling that the government considers the plant as dangerous as heroin. The scheduling move would last for two years, with a possible extension of an additional year, and would go into effect at the end of September. 

Kratom is made from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa, a Southeast Asian tree related to coffee, and has been consumed in Asia for millennia, typically as a tea or powder. The herb contains alkaloids that appear to activate opioid receptors in the brain and reduce pain. Although most opioids have sedative qualities, low to moderate doses of kratom serve as a mild stimulant.

These characteristics have led advocates and some researchers to claim that kratom can be used as a maintenance drug, or a step-down treatment, to help recovering opioid addicts.

But the DEA, in its Federal Register notice, dismisses these applications, seizing on the herb’s addictive potential and declaring that kratom is being “misused” to self-treat chronic pain and opioid withdrawal symptoms.

“Kratom does not have an approved medical use in the United States and has not been studied as a treatment agent in the United States,” reads the notice. “Especially concerning, reports note users have turned to kratom as a replacement for other opioids, such as heroin.”

The DEA notice shows that prohibition remains a favorite tool of the nation’s drug warriors, despite ample evidence that it doesn’t work. The DEA did not respond to a request for comment.

Susan Ash, founder of the American Kratom Association, a consumer-based nonprofit, shared her personal experience with The Huffington Post earlier this year, describing how the herbal supplement has helped her return to a normal life after a struggle with chronic pain ― and opioid addiction ― due to complications from Lyme disease. Ash said she didn’t hear about the DEA’s intention to place kratom in Schedule I until reports began emerging online Tuesday.

“We really believed that because of the progress medical marijuana has made through the states, that the federal government was going to leave kratom alone and leave it to the states to decide whether it was appropriate to be legal,” Ash said.

Some states have been addressing kratom over the past few years with bans or restrictions on its sale.

The American Kratom Association has advocated for measures that address labeling, marketing, age restrictions and other efforts to crack down on unscrupulous manufacturers who make outlandish medicinal claims or attempt to sell kratom as an opiate equivalent. The group had hoped to continue an active role in ensuring consumers could use kratom safely and responsibly, said Ash.

“Rather than have an emergency scheduling, why not host a summit meeting with all of the groups and organizations and investors that are out there selling this product and say, ‘Hey, these are our concerns. If you don’t clean this up this is what we’re going to do?’” said Ash. “Why not go to the sources that they’re having the problems with?”

The federal government’s decision may be devestating for Americans who have used kratom for pain management and treatment for a variety of other health issues, said Ash. With harsh penalties likely to come with the DEA Schedule I designation, many people will be forced to decide whether to risk the purchase of kratom on the black market, seek legal narcotics associated with addiction and other problems, or attempt to manage without any treatment.

A string of sensationalist news stories and reports of abuse have helped push a narrative that kratom is a dangerous and potentially deadly new recreational substance.

Some of the reports have involved fatalities. But in the majority of those cases, toxicology tests showed that kratom users who died also had signs of abusing other drugs or pre-existing health conditions. In a number of instances, they appear to have taken deceptively marketed products that also contained dangerous synthetic drugs.

Prohibition is going to be counter-productive and do more harm than good.
Jag Davies, Drug Policy Alliance

The DEA notice cites the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent decision to declare kratom an “emerging public health threat,” based on calls to poison centers, as well as an increasing number of drug tests detecting kratom.

In the six years from January 2010 to December 2015, the CDC found 660 calls to U.S. poison centers related to kratom. From December 2014 to March 2016, the agency documented 555 positive test results for mitragynine, the psychoactive alkaloid in kratom.

The DEA notice says the trend shows “growing abuse and popularity of these substances.” Ash noted that the numbers are just a tiny portion of the more than 3 million annual calls to poison centers, and the millions of drug tests the CDC surveyed.

The DEA’s report contains confusing language about the substances it wants to ban, repeatedly referring to kratom ingredients mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine as “opioids,” which they are not. Although the compounds do activate opioid receptors, so do some chemicals found in cheese.

Walter C. Prozialeck, a professor of pharmacology at Midwestern University who wrote a comprehensive literature review on kratom for the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, said he disagrees with the DEA’s characterization.

“Even though the ‘mytragines’ may have some affinity for opioid receptors, their actions are quite different from those of classic opioids, like morphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, heroin, etc.,” Prozialeck wrote in an email to HuffPost. “After looking at the literature, I would certainly not classify them as classic ‘opioids.’”

Prozialeck described kratom as largely benign in an earlier interview with HuffPost, and said it doesn’t produce much in the way of psychoactive high in low to moderate doses. He called for additional research and cautioned against mixing the drug with other substances ― a concern the DEA notice also raised. But he said kratom doesn’t have a particularly high potential for recreational abuse and agreed with advocates who say the positive effects appear to outweigh the negatives.

There is little disagreement among kratom supporters, drug-policy reformers and some lawmakers on the need for regulation and education.

“These are all things that decades of public health research shows us are necessary,” Jag Davies, director of communications strategy at the Drug Policy Alliance, told HuffPost. “But prohibition is going to be counter-productive and do more harm than good.”

Classifying kratom as a Schedule I substance underscores some of the worst tendencies of U.S. drug policy. For one, plants and naturally occurring herbal supplements are subject to a complex regulatory challenge. Winning Food and Drug Administration approval to sell a synthesized drug typically costs pharmaceutical companies billions. Big Pharma has little incentive to seek approval for plants like kratom, as companies can’t exactly patent leaves that have been around for millions of years.

Opting to place kratom alongside the most dangerous drugs also shows that the nation’s drug enforcement apparatus remains dominated by abstinence-only tactics. Withdrawal symptoms and health effects associated with kratom are minor, compared with heroin or synthetic opioids, for example. By that measure, Davies said that if someone is using kratom as treatment for opioid addiction, that can be considered a step in the right direction.

Even as President Barack Obama and other government leaders increasingly come around to a more nuanced, treatment-centric vision of drug policy, the DEA is showing that old habits die hard.

“It’s kind of shocking that despite all of the progress that’s been made toward treating drugs as a health issue instead of a criminal justice, that still, after all these years, the immediate reaction of politicians and policymakers is to go with knee-jerk prohibition,” said Davies.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

HONOLULU ― Two powerful hurricanes, one right behind the other, are headed toward the Hawaiian Islands, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a hurricane warning for Hawaii’s Big Island.

The nearest storm, Madeline, currently a Category 3 hurricane, was moving west toward the Big Island. As of 2 p.m. HST on Tuesday, the storm was about 350 miles east of Hilo and had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph.

Madeline is predicted to bring high winds, flash flooding and high surf to the island on Wednesday if it remains on its current path, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.

Forecasters predict Madeline will pass just south of the Big Island around 2 a.m. Thursday, according to The Associated Press. Residents are being told to expect tropical storm conditions and potential hurricane conditions.

“Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,” the National Weather Service warning reads.

In Madeline’s wake is Hurricane Lester, which also was a Category 3 storm on course for the Hawaiian Islands. Forecasters predict Lester will weaken to a tropical storm before it reaches land, AP reports.

If either storm makes landfall at hurricane strength on the Big Island, it would be the first hurricane to hit the island in recorded history, according to Weather Underground. In records going back to 1949, tropical storms have hit the Big Island, but no hurricanes. 

Hawaii News Now reports that meteorologists believe the effects of Madeline could be worse than those of Tropical Storm Iselle, which hit the Big Island in 2014. They’re warning residents to prepare accordingly. 

“This looks like potentially the strongest tropical cyclone, which includes hurricanes and tropical storms, to approach very close to the coast in the past several years,” Central Pacific Hurricane Center meteorologist Chris Brenchley told Hawaii News Now.

Florida is also preparing for possible nasty weather, as an unnamed tropical depression strengthens and heads for the state’s Gulf Coast. The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for parts of the state, warning of potential hurricane conditions and flooding.

In order to stay safe during a major storm, follow National Weather Service hurricane safety guidelines: Prepare a disaster supply kit, have an evacuation plan and stay updated on current storm information.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) won her primary Tuesday, a positive development for the congresswoman after a tumultuous past few months. 

Wasserman Schultz beat progressive law professor Tim Canova, who drew on the same anti-corporate momentum that fueled the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), earning him national attention and significant contributions from Sanders supporters. The political novice was even raising more money than Wasserman Schultz during the campaign.

Not that long ago, even talking about a possible Wasserman Schultz defeat would have been outlandish. She ran the Democratic National Committee, held a safe blue seat and had never had a competitive primary.

But furor at Wasserman Schultz grew during the presidential primary as many progressives criticized her for seeming to tip the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton, and lingering frustrations over her management of the party spilled into the open. Canova campaigned against her as the “quintessential corporate machine politician.” In March, President Barack Obama endorsed Wasserman Schultz, an early indication that the congresswoman needed some help in retaining her seat. 

Wasserman Schultz resigned as DNC chair on the eve of the convention last month as Sanders supporters gathered in Philadelphia took to the streets and protested her. The catalyst was a leak of DNC staffers’ emails that seemed to show the party working to help get Clinton elected ― even though it was supposed to be neutral in the primary. The congresswoman wanted to keep her speaking spot at the convention, but ultimately, she was forced to give that up as well. 

Wasserman Schultz also faced outrage from progressives for co-sponsoring legislation to gut new rules put forward by the Obama administration intended to rein in predatory payday lending. The activist group Allied Progressive released an ad in Florida, hitting the DNC chair for teaming up with Republicans to defeat the policy. 

For Sanders supporters, the race became a fight against corporate interests and a way to eke out a victory after the senator’s loss in the Democratic presidential primary.

Yet despite this dissatisfaction, Canova’s candidacy lagged. Sanders sent out fundraising emails on his behalf, but he never went to Florida and campaigned in person.

“There are a lot of people who feel disappointed,” Canova told The Atlantic. “There are a lot of people in South Florida who wanted Bernie Sanders to come down.”

Clinton, meanwhile, paid a surprise visit to a Wasserman Schultz field office and praised the congresswoman when she was in Miami last month. She also won the district against Sanders by a landslide.

Being tied to Sanders could also have been a double-edged sword, as Canova told NBC News. 

“Bernie ran a lousy campaign in Florida,” he said. “Bernie had his problems with certain constituencies that I don’t have problems with.”

The 23rd district is heavily Democratic, and Wasserman Schultz is expected to win in November. 

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

I’ve been impressed with the films of director Denis Villeneuve and enjoyed a good amount of Sicario so it’s pretty fun to share this CineFix analysis of a ridiculously tense sequence in the movie. If you haven’t seen the movie, you can still probably enjoy the exhaustive breakdown of the scene but if you have watched Sicario, it highlights everything you enjoyed about the visit to Juarez, Mexico with such detail that you’d want to watch the entire movie all over again.

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