Source: The Florida Times-Union
Excerpt:
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s sudden ban on 7- hydroxymitragynine (7–OH) is reckless, unfounded and cruel. The facts don’t support his claims of an “emergency.” According to the FDA’s own adverse event database, there are zero confirmed deaths linked to 7–OH alone. Yet Uthmeier has lumped it in with heroin.
I am a U.S. Army combat veteran living with PTSD and chronic pain. After the VA cut me off from opioids, I spiraled into fentanyl addiction and I nearly lost everything. Six years ago, I got clean and 7–OH has been the tool that’s kept me there. It allows me to run a business, raise my children and make my parents proud.
If the state can ban 7–OH overnight without evidence, they can come for kratom leaf, CBD or any tool that is inconvenient to them. That should alarm every Floridian, whether you use these products or not.
This ban will drive users underground, silence honest conversations with doctors and make relapses more likely. I urge Floridians to speak up now. Contact your lawmakers, attend hearings and demand this ban be reversed.
Kendall Tipper, Jacksonville