Lessons for Libertarians learned from the fight to keep Kratom legal

“It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.” John Philpot Curran 1790

Millions of Kratom users, scientists, voluntary associations, and small business owners who sell Kratom, have banded together and have successfully forced the Federal Government to keep this beneficial plant legal. I believe that the battle plan used to keep Kratom legal can be applied to any issue in which the government has violated the Natural Rights of the individual.

Kratom is a plant from Southeast Asia. It’s been used safely for thousands of years for anxiety, fatigue and pain relief. Another use for the plant is for the alleviation of withdrawal symptoms associated with abrupt stoppage of opioid use. Ive used it myself and have found it great for providing relief from opioid withdrawal symptoms as well as for pain relief. I’ve been ill for over 30 years and have been treated increasingly like criminal for seeking to have my pain relieved within the medical system, if the FDA is successful in banning Kratom, they’ll make me an actual criminal for simply drinking a tea made from a plant, that makes my life livable.

In 2016 the DEA did use its emergency powers, to place Kratom in the category of Schedule I, at the behest of the FDA. The DEA reversed this decision after they heard from thousands of people who safely use Kratom everyday and about the lies the FDA had been telling them from organizations like the American Kratom Association. The FDA has been waging a battle to ban Kratom since 2009, but they’ve failed. The reason why they’ve failed is because those who support the continued legalization of Kratom have enacted a successful political battle plan which if followed, could be used in other political battles as well.

I believe that it is our natural God-given right to ingest what substances we choose. This is based upon the idea that individuals own themselves. We are not owned by the state. We have dominion over our minds and bodies. This is something the alphabet soup of Federal and State agencies seem to forget and we must remind them. The regulatory bureaucracies have exploded in power over the last 50 years but their power can be curtailed. The successful political battle plan for keeping Kratom Legal can serve as a template of action to help anyone who is passionate about freedom to win more political battles in the future.

 

The Kratom Battle Plan:

1. Have a single issue – everyone from the many scientists studying the plant to people who use it, to the small business owners importing it, to the documentary filmmakers exploring the many aspects about the plant, they all can rally behind the single idea of: Keeping Kratom Legal. 
2. Form Issue Specific Associations – One thing libertarians hate more than government intrusion into their lives, is joining groups. This has to be done if we want to decrease the power of government to control our lives. Forming issue specific associations provides an aggregator of relative scientific information, a source for updates about legislation and other governmental actions concerning the issue and also a way to organize the community so they can coordinate and concentrate political action. I’m extremely thankful that The American Kratom Association exists. It’s one of the largest, if not the largest association, fighting to keep Kratom legal. Their staff and leadership are extremely smart accomplished men and women, who have government, non-profit and business experience. This group of highly competent, knowledgable, intelligent and passionate folks are a huge reason the DEA backed down in 2016 and have forced the FDA to go to plan B and to deal with each state individually.
3. Know the Facts inside and out – The FDA lied about the deaths associated with Kratom. They also lied about their “proof” derived from a computer model that showed Kratom was a danger to the American Public.   The American Kratom Association has done an amazing job funding and disseminating the true scientific facts about Kratom. They along with others have proven that the FDA are lying about the facts about Kratom and profited specific point by point refutation of every lie the FDA is peddling.
4. Mobilize personal stories – One of the tricks used by the FDA is to say that a substance doesn’t have any agreed upon medical benefits – this is their way of saying that personal experience of millions can be totally dismissed, when they deem a substance dangerous. Each individual’s experience with Kratom is an experiment of one and sharing the story of only a small fraction of the millions of these successful individual experiments have provided powerful evidence for lawmakers that Kratom should stay legal.  The DEA and FDA have been inundated by personal stories of those who use Kratom safety and effectively everyday. In 2016 this was a key reason, along with the shoddy work of the FDA, that the DEA reversed their decision to place Kratom in Schedule I. Also thousands and probably now tens of thousands of people have created powerful Youtube videos about their personal experiences with Kratom. These personal stories are emotionally powerful and highlight to lawmakers the fact that when they make a law it affects real people. Many of these videos contain heart wrenching stories of people who have used Kratom to help them stop taking black market drugs and turn their lives around.
5. Get involved in Politics: This is something that libertarians hate even more than joining groups. Most of us just want to be left alone. The problem with this attitude is that there are powerful interests in this country – Big government and Big Business – who want to control every aspect of our lives. Getting involved in specific issues is a great way for Libertarians to use the political system to increase the freedom we all enjoy. If Ron Paul and Thomas Jefferson never got involved with the political system where would we be today? This single issue approach is about using the power of the individual in voluntary association with others to engage the political system to stop the government from violating their Natural Rights and that of others. This is a noble pursuit. Call your local Representatives. Call the representatives that are heading up the committees which deal with the issue you care about. They will listen. They will all you back. I did this myself and was shocked to hear from a state rep that he say the Kratom issue as a personal freedom issue and that the state of Georgia had no plans on banning it any time soon. He was fully aware of the lies the FDA has been telling, thanks largely to the work of the American Kratom Association and he also mentioned that they’ve heard from many people who gain significant benefit form Kratom. The American Kratom Association also hires lobbyists to educate politicians and staffers. They also have experts at Committee meetings or anywhere else the Kratom issue is being discussed to make sure lawmakers are hearing the facts about the plant and not just being force-fed the lies from the FDA.
6. Produce Documentaries about the single issue: The Document “A Leaf Of Faith” was produced by one of the largest Kratom vendors. Its extremely well done and clearly shows that the scientific as well as anecdotal evidence shows that Kratom is legal. The film helps to reach a mass audience which helps to make those who haven’t heard of Kratom aware of it and how the government is trying to ban it. The  mainstream media is controlled by huge corporations who have a vested interests in keeping the status quo going and expanding government power from which they benefit from. Creating our own quality content is a way to help to expose the lies the government is spreading and to tell the truth about the issue you care deeply about.

 

The Kratom victories are incredible and give me hope for the future. I used to think that getting involved in politics was a waste of time. I’ve experienced first hand that it’s not. The bigger structural issues will take time – the Federal Reserve system, the Military Industrial Complex, The War on Drugs, the Endless Spying – all won’t disappear over night. But what we can do now is to choose single issues we are passionate about and follow the KRATOM  battle plan to start winning more political battles in the fight for more personal freedom in our lifetime.

 

Brad Miller

Advocate of Liberty