Kratom is not the issue at hand. Attempts to declare it an illegal substance are an overreach by locals that are being told that this is a bad thing.
It seems a number of people use kratom to help with chronic pain and have no issues with the substance. Overuse of any substance can produce bad results, but does that mean that a group of citizens called a council can simply declare it to be illegal? That seems to be an overreach by definition!
I am not advocating the use of the substance. I am questioning the authority of local yocals to declare it illegal. What if they decided to declare aspirin, when used to excess, to be dangerous? Could they simply declare aspirin (or anything else not controlled by federal law) illegal? This is a very slippery slope that these people are attempting to scale that needs to be closely examined before these little councils get the notion that they have power and authority that in reality, they don’t.
As badly as I loathe the ACLU, I am opined that even they would describe a local attempt to ban and declare a substance illegal is not a constitutionally correct move. People who use kratom with good results should not be mandated to as if they were sheep or be declared criminals because they use something to alleviate chronic pain.
This is another case of too much government telling too many people what their local yocals think is good or bad for them.
Jim Creson
Tupelo
Original Article https://www.djournal.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/your-opinion-kratom-bans-represent-government-overreach/article_dfc2b30c-d21e-572b-ab9e-ddd5e4573f6d.html
