Answer Addiction

Tag: opioid alternative

  • FDA Tries To Blame Kratom In Newborn Withdrawal Case

    FDA Tries To Blame Kratom In Newborn Withdrawal Case

    The agency claims it is aware of four other NAS cases involving infants exposed to kratom in utero.

    A new case report published in the journal Pediatrics suggests that kratom was the cause of a newborn’s withdrawal symptoms. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other naysayers of the herbal supplement say this is a prime example of kratom’s potential for abuse and addiction, researchers say there’s not enough information to draw any hard conclusions.

    According to the case report, a former oxycodone user gave birth to a boy who showed signs of drug withdrawal—he was jittery, screaming, and required a morphine treatment to stay alive.

    The mother reported that she had used oxycodone for almost a decade. But she completed a treatment program and was off the drugs during her pregnancy. Indeed, no opioids were detected in a drug test.

    According to the woman’s husband, she had kratom tea every day to treat her withdrawal symptoms and help her sleep. Kratom, a plant that is native to Southeast Asia, has a fierce and loyal following of people who say it has helped them manage pain and treat opioid withdrawal.

    But people should practice caution, says lead author of the case report Dr. Whitney Eldridge, a neonatologist at BayCare Health System in Florida. “I fear that women making genuine commitments to overcome their dependency may develop a false sense of safety by using a substance that is advertised as a non-opioid alternative,” she said.

    As CNN notes, there is no explicit link between kratom and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) made in the case report.

    There is not enough information to do so, says Dr. Andrew Kruegel, associate research scientist at Columbia University. “The main limitation is that we don’t know anything about the dosage that the mother was taking. Without that information, you can’t really extrapolate too much.” Nor was it verified—other than from the husband’s account—that the substance the mother was ingesting was indeed kratom.

    According to the FDA, the boy’s case “further illustrates the concerns the FDA has identified about kratom, including the potential for abuse and addiction.”

    The agency claims it is aware of four other NAS cases involving infants exposed to kratom in utero.

    In April, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb went so far as to state that “compounds in kratom make it so it isn’t just a plant—it’s an opioid.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • CBD Oil Quickly Becoming Popular Opioid Alternative

    CBD Oil Quickly Becoming Popular Opioid Alternative

    One expert says CBD oil sales are growing nationally, particularly in states that allow medical marijuana but not recreational.

    When it comes to pain management, there may be a safer alternative to prescription pain medication: CBD oil, also known as cannabidiol.

    In Georgia, according to WSB-TV Atlanta, the hemp-derived CBD product is legal because it only contains trace amounts of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

    CBD oil is sold at Little Five Points Pharmacy in northeast Atlanta, and pharmacist Ira Katz tells WSB-TV that it has been effective for some of his patients. 

    “We know that this can reduce pain,” he said. “I have several patients that we’ve been putting this on, recommending this to them, and it’s great. It helps. It makes a big difference.”

    The oil does not give users a high. “People are turning to cannabidiol as an alternative when they can’t get low THC oil,” Anthony LaBorde, store operator for Discount Nutrition in Midtown Atlanta and Acworth, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We get people coming in here who say, ‘Oh my gosh, this is marijuana, I can’t believe you sell this.’ There’s complete confusion.”

    Studies have found that CBD oil is effective for treating neuropathic pain, arthritis pain, anxiety, sleep disorders and depression.

    “I’ve had some patients that have been able to get off some of those pain medications, which they hated taking,” Katz told WSB-TV. “It has no addictive properties and far less side effects than do a lot of the prescription pain medications.”

    According to Bethany Gomez, research director for the Chicago-based Brightfield Group, sales of CBD are growing across the nation, particularly in states like Georgia that have some form of a medical marijuana program, but do not allow cannabis for adult use. In 2016, the market for the product was $174 million, compared to $590 million this year. 

    “CBD is very widely used by people who would not come anywhere near cannabis, who don’t want anything to do with the mind-altering effects of marijuana but want treatment for chronic pain, anxiety and women’s health conditions,” Gomez told the Journal-Constitution.

    Despite the apparent benefits, CBD oil still concerns some local law enforcement officials. Wesley Nunn, president of the Georgia Narcotics Officers Association and commander of the Ocmulgee Drug Task Force, fears shops may be disguising THC oil as CBD oil, the difference lying in the potency of the product. 

    “You don’t know what’s in it. That’s the problem,” Nunn told the Journal-Constitution. “If it’s helping with seizures, appetite disorders and PTSD, let’s get it regulated… There’s so much money being pushed behind the marijuana trade, and people are trying to get on board.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Kratom Supporters Converge on Washington to Fight Potential Ban

    Kratom Supporters Converge on Washington to Fight Potential Ban

    Kratom advocates met at the U.S. Capitol in early June to begin a week of lobbying in favor of the substance.

    With a federal ban on kratom gaining traction in Washington, D.C, advocates of the plant’s pain management and potential opioid withdrawal properties traveled to the nation’s capital to lobby support for the Southeast Asian plant.

    Participants hoped to correct legislators’ misconceptions about the plant, which has been labeled as an equivalent to prescription opioids with no medical benefit by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

    But as the Huffington Post noted, supporters found that their efforts generated a mixed response from the House and Senate, where legislative aides reportedly said that if the FDA followed through with the ban, it would most likely receive backing from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

    Surveys have suggested that between three and five million Americans use kratom, which is consumed as a supplement made from the dried or powdered leaves of the kratom tree.

    Users claim that kratom can serve as a stimulant or sedative, and it has been touted as an alternative to prescription opioids for pain management, and in some cases, as a potential tool for withdrawal from opioids. It is currently unregulated in America, though some states have enacted a ban on the substance within their own borders.

    Kratom’s interaction with opioid receptors in the body has placed it in the crosshairs of the FDA, which has claimed that it can impact the user in the same manner as opioids, and has the same potential for abuse and dependency.

    The agency’s negative press eventually spurred the DEA’s decision to temporarily add kratom to its list of Schedule I drugs in 2016, though public outcry from users who relied on the substance for their quality of life forced it to rescind its order that same year.

    The FDA has since renewed its efforts to take kratom off the market, this time with computer analysis that suggested the most prevalent compounds in the substance share “structural similarities” to opioids. It also officially recommended that the DEA move forward with its rescheduling, a decision which, according to sources within the agency, may happen as early as summer 2018.

    In hopes of heading off such measures, kratom advocates met at the U.S. Capitol on June 5 to begin a week of lobbying in favor of the substance. Proponents testified to the positive impact of kratom use on their chronic pain, which they claimed to have treated unsuccessfully with prescription opioids.

    As the HuffPost article noted, one individual spoke about her anxiety that had driven her to consider suicide, and how she had found relief through kratom use.

    But attendees also reported that meetings with legislative aides at the House and Senate could not generate a concrete statement of support. Most appeared to hear and support the advocates’ aims, but could not assure the visitors that they would work on their behalf; others stated that if the FDA wanted to reassign kratom, there would be little they could do to stave off or reverse that decision.

    “They were pretty much letting us know that this isn’t looking too great,” said Melanie Victor, a volunteer from Tennessee. “This is probably going to be a pretty big fight.”

    View the original article at thefix.com