On September 12 CRE sent a letter ( cre-dea-kratom-1 ) which contains a roadmap for the Drug Enforcement Administration to address the alleged problems with kratom through the adoption of a transparent and public process.

CRE concluded in the aforementioned letter:

However in this instance, the DEA action to ban Kratom, the conflict is considerably wider in scope. In this instance there is a sharp disagreement among a number of federal agencies. Consequently if there were ever a time for an OMB intervention this is it.

CRE recommends the following:

CRE is requesting that the DEA take the following actions, none of which prejudge the final status of Mitragynine and 7-Hydroxymitragynine:

1. Extend the effective date for placing kratom into schedule I until July, 1, 2017.

2. Open a Federal Register notice-and-comment proceeding on placing kratom into Schedule I and inform the public that the DEA’s proposal is a “significant regulatory action” under Executive Order 12866 because it,

a) Has an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or

b) Creates a serious inconsistency with an action taken by another agency, FDA, or

c) Raises novel legal and policy issues arising out of legal mandates.

3. Submit the proposed listing to OMB for review pursuant to Executive Order 12866.

4. Inform the US-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) via OMB of DEA’s intent to place kratom on schedule I and seek its comments.

5. Conduct an interagency peer review of DEA’s science which lead to a Schedule I listing of kratom as required by the HISA requirements of the Data (Information) Quality Act

Also see comments on this page.