More than 8,000 convicted people and suspects will be cleared of legal charges when kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is removed from the narcotics list on Aug 24, Office of Narcotics Control Board secretary-general Wichai Chaimongkol said. Kratom (Migragyna speciosa) is a tropical evergreen plant with opioid properties and some stimulant-like effects. It had long been used in tradtional medicine but was declared a Class 5 narcotic under the Narcotics Act of 1976. The law was amended in 2021 to remove kratom from the list. The amendment was published in the Royal Gazette on May 26 and the removal of kratom from the narcotics list is effective from Aug 24.

A World Health Organization meeting could determine the future of kratom, a widely available herbal supplement some tout as an alternative to opioid painkillers. Kratom, a plant indigenous to Southeast Asia, produces narcotic-like effects. Advocates say the substance is a promising replacement for opioids that could help wean people addicted to those drugs, which killed nearly 70,000 people in the U.S. in 2020. The WHO's drug dependence committee will conduct a "pre-review" of kratom. Kratom advocates suggest Washington a attempts to end run the federal regulatory process by taking the international route to finish what it could not accomplish domestically. (See also: Kratom: the creation of a threat: A policy commentary on the WHO pre-review of kratom)

After being listed as an illegal narcotic for many decades, Thais will finally be allowed to use and own Mitragyna speciosa, also known as kratom, as traditional medicine by August this year. On May 28, an announcement was made in the Royal Gazettewhich effectively removed the plant from the list of narcotics. As new laws take effect 90 days after their publication in the Gazette, kratom use and possession will be effectively decriminalised on Aug 24. Prior to its decriminalisation, kratom was categorised as a Class 5 Narcotic substance under the Narcotics Act, which made consuming, cultivating and possessing any part of the plant illegal.

In the context of a fast changing and well documented market in legal highs, the case of khat (Catha edulis) provides an interesting anomaly. It is first of all a plant-based substance that undergoes minimal transformation or processing in the journey from farm to market. Secondly, khat has been consumed for hundreds if not thousands of years in the highlands of Eastern Africa and Southern Arabia. In European countries, khat use was first observed during the 1980s, but has only attracted wider attention in recent years.

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Khat has been consumed for hundreds if not thousands of years in the highlands of Eastern Africa and Southern Arabia. Outside that area, khat use was first observed during the 1980s, but has only attracted wider attention in recent years. Where khat has been studied extensively, namely Australia, the UK and until recently the Netherlands, governments have steered clear of prohibition because the negative medical and social harms do not merit such controls. Where strict bans on khat have been introduced they have had severe unintended negative consequences and failed to further the integration, social incusion and economic prosperity of Somali communities in particular, which chew khat most widely. Experi­ences fromNorth America andScandi­navia show that a ban will not solve problems associated with kath but tend to increase them.

La Comisión Global de Política de Drogas llamó a la comunidad internacional a relajar las restricciones comerciales impuestas a sustancias psicoactivas “más ligeras, menos nocivas y menos potentes”, que excedan los fines médicos y científicos, abriendo espacios en el marco del ordenamiento interno de los países para permitir usos tradicionales, religiosos, de automejora o sociales. Esta organización independiente integrada por 14 ex Jefes de Estado y cuatro premios Nobel, lanzó el reporte "La clasificación de sustancias psicoactivas. Cuando se dejó atrás a la ciencia”, el cual expone que el sesgo de la clasificación histórica de las sustancias psicoactivas ha contribuido al “problema mundial de las drogas”. (Véase también: La ciencia que nunca llegó al debate de las drogas)

The decriminalisation of kratom, long used as a herbal remedy but which some health regulators around the world have criticised as potentially unsafe, was welcomed by human rights advocates. Kratom is part of the coffee family, used for centuries in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea for its pain-relieving and mildly stimulating effects. It has become increasingly popular in the United States. The change to Thai law means "the general public will be able to consume and sell kratom legally", government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said, while more than 1,000 prisoners convicted of offences related to the drug will be freed. (See also: Thailand legalizes kratom, popular plant-based painkiller)

La Constitución marca el inicio de un nuevo paradigma para la coca, lo que se concretó con la denuncia de Bolivia a la Convención Única de 1961 y su readhesión en 2013, bajo la reserva sobre el derecho al uso tradicional, ritual, cultural y medicinal de la planta en su estado natural. Esta reserva nos obliga a establecer mecanismos de control sobre el cultivo para prevenir la producción ilícita de estupefacientes extraíbles de la hoja. Así nace en 2017 la Ley General de Coca, para regular la cadena de producción solo en territorio local, lo que dificulta la apertura de mercados internacionales. El artículo 12 de la Ley de Coca cita como prioridad nacional su exportación.

Last month, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) continued its attacks on kratom, a natural plant used by millions of Americans for an improved quality of life and pain reduction. According to the FDA, kratom should be banned for its opioid-like qualities, its potential deadliness, and its link to 23 salmonella poisonings across the country. Let’s break down all of these falsehoods. First, regulation is the better approach than banning. Kratom users won’t go away if it’s made illegal; the plant has been imported for years because of its popularity and safe use in Asia.

For more than two decades, Maua enjoyed booming business propelled by the growth and sale of khat, known locally as miraa, a popular herb whose leaves and stems are chewed for the mild high they offer. But last year the UK, home to one of khat’s biggest markets, declared the stimulant a class C drug and banned all imports, prompting Maua’s rapid descent into economic purgatory.

A narcotic beverage from the Pacific Islands is being used to counter prejudices about people who use drugs. "Kava is our culture. We lose kava, we lose our culture," Edmond Fehoko says. There is a lot of research on kava from health, agricultural and medicinal perspectives, but "no one has explored the social, cultural importance of it", Fehoko says. Born in New Zealand, of Tongan heritage, Fehoko went to his first kava circle at 14. Now he's trying to change the view that kava circles aren't a "waste of time," but a space for cultural affirmation. "There about 50 to 100 kava clubs in South Auckland alone. In Auckland, you're looking at almost 20,000 kava drinkers a weekend."

The leafy substance khat, grown by many Kenyan farmers, is of economic and cultural significance to many Africans. The UK government has decided, against the advice of its own experts, to treat khat as a class C drug to "protect vulnerable members of our communities". In July, UK Home Secretary Theresa May said khat would be banned "at the earliest possible opportunity" but a ban has yet to be imposed. A team of Kenyan MPs lobby the UK government not to follow suit.

A decision by the UK government to ban the stimulant khat later this year is facing fierce resistance in Kenya from those farming the mildly narcotic leaves for export. Local leaders are not happy with the UK's decision to reclassify khat as a class C drug. The local MP, Kubai Kiringo, tells me Kenya could reconsider its ties to Britain if the UK does not drop the ban. "We feel bitter and short-changed. We want the home secretary to revise her decision," he says. (See also: Harmless habit or dangerous drug?)

In 2014 the UK banned khat, the stimulant stems and leaves of the tree Catha edulis. This move brought to an end the weekly importation into London’s Heathrow of about 56 tonnes of the commodity. Most had been grown on farms in Kenya’s Nyambene Hills in Meru County. An estimated £12.7 million was remitted to Kenya from the UK for this trade in 2010 alone. The loss of this income has had adverse economic effects in those parts of the growing regions that had been reliant on the UK market. While prohibitions are being introduced in other countries too, in Kenya the British ban has actually served to make the substance more respectable and secure in status. But with its last major international market of Somalia threatened, the fate of this international pariah crop is far from certain.

The aim of the study was to review the information available on the use of khat (Catha edulis) in the EU, and to assess the future use of this drug and related substances. Khat use sits awkwardly within the current EU reporting framework, and this hampers the production of a European-level analysis of the use of this drug. Why this is so, and what information is available at the European level, are the topics addressed in this paper. The analysis is extended to consider if the current evidence suggests that this drug, or synthetic variations of the psychoactive compounds it contains, are likely to play a greater role in the European drug scene of the future.

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The increasingly widespread use of ketum (or kratom) in Malaysia earlier this year prompted the Ministry of Home Affairs to lead a push to schedule it in the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952. On April 1, the amendment to the DDA was shelved. Opposition MP Wong Chen wrote a Facebook post detailing reasons for opposition to the amendment, including: usage as traditional medication, lack of socioeconomic considerations, and the need for evidence-based rehabilitation. He also emphasized that the country should be moving towards decriminalization of drugs.

Over the past decade, methamphetamine use has grown more popular in Myanmar, Thailand and Southern China. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with individuals who use methamphetamine, this briefing sheds light on the importance of promoting an environment that reinforces, rather than undermines, the ability of people who use methamphetamine to regulate their drug use, preserve their health and adopt safer practices.

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The regulation of khat, one of the most recent psychoactive drugs to become a globally traded commodity, remains hotly contested within different producer and consumer countries. As regimes vary, it has been possible to compare khat policies in Africa, Europe and North America from different disciplinary perspectives. The research established the significance of khat for rural producers, regional economies, as a tax base and source of foreign exchange. At the same time, khat as a psychoactive substance is associated with health and public safety problems that in turn are met with often ill-informed legislative responses. Bans have in turn lead to the criminalisation of users and sellers and illegal drug markets.

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Los pueblos Nasa de Colombia presentaron ante la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos una petición de medidas cautelares a su favor ante las restricciones que tienen en el país actualmente para comercializar productos que contengan hoja de coca. ¿La razón? Un fallo de 2018 de la Corte Constitucional dice que para poder venderlos fuera de sus comunidades necesitan una autorización expedida por el Invima de registro sanitario. Ante esta situación, presentaron la petición ante la CIDH alegando posibles vulneraciones a la Convención Americana de Derechos Humanos y a la Declaración de las Naciones Unidas de los Pueblos Indígenas de 13 de septiembre de 2007.

The global trade in khat is controversial. The United States and most countries in Europe have banned it, considering it a psychotropic substance. But it contributes significantly to farmers’ livelihood in Eastern Africa. Though public officials in the region denounce its consumption, they benefit from the foreign exchange and tax revenues that it generates. So, how should this contradiction be resolved?

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