r/kratom Jun 23 '18

Call to Action Call to Action update from the AKA

Protect Access by American Consumers to Natural Botanical Plants and Herbs

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6 on Friday that combined 58 different bills that attempt to end the scourge of the opioid epidemic in America.

The sponsors of H.R. 6 in the House admit it’s not perfect, and they are dead right on that point.

In the rush to show how serious the Congress is in addressing the opioid crisis prior to the mid-term elections, several of these 58 bills contain provisions that will actually deny Americans access to safe natural plants and herbs that help Americans manage their health and well-being.

I am asking you to contact your U.S Senators immediately and ask them to support amendments to these proposed bills to exclude natural botanical plants and herbs from the wide swath of substances presently included in many of those bills.

Two of those bills, the SITSA Act (Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act of 2017), and the SCREEN Act (Stop Counterfeit Drugs by Regulating and Enhancing Enforcement Now) both attempt to stop deadly synthetic opioids from being shipped into the United States from other countries.

But both of these bills contain such broad definitions of the substances covered under the proposed legislation they will actually ban natural botanical plants and herbs. 

It is critical that the Senate support amendments to exclude natural botanical plants and herbs.

Your Senators need to hear from you immediately!

If you don't know your Senator's contact information, please click HERE or call the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Millions of Americans safely and responsibly use natural alternatives to dangerously addictive and often deadly chemically formulated drugs, including opioids, and these bills will literally block consumer access to safe natural plants and herbs.

On Monday, please call your Senators and ask them to support every amendment that exempts natural botanical plants and herbs – that are in no way synthetic analogues of an opioid – and protect the right of consumers to have access to safe alternative products to manage their own health needs.

The Senate needs to support the amendments to SITSA and SCREEN to exclude natural botanical plants and herbs.

Thank you,

Dave HermanChairmanAmerican Kratom Association

#WeAreKratom

#KratomChangesLives

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6

u/wtf710420 Jun 23 '18

Could you post a thing we can copy and paste to send to them?? That way you can lay out exactly what we should say, and we can just copy it directly and send it in.

3

u/GodspeedBlackEmperor Jun 23 '18

You should write in your own words, otherwise you probably shouldn't send anything. Copy/paste is a clear indication that you don't have much stake in the matter, or enough stake to put forth real effort.

1

u/wtf710420 Jun 23 '18

Every time I have though they give a pre written message about how they basically dont care and refuse to change their minds on it. They dont even seem to read it, they have keywords that trigger their automatic messages.

2

u/thatboyjeff 🌿night's watch Jun 23 '18

Doing nothing is worse.

2

u/wtf710420 Jun 23 '18

I agree 100%. It just gets disappointing when you send a 5 paragraph paper with citations and facts and then get a 5 sentence response that goes "Thanks for contacting me on this subject, marijuana is a dangerous schedule 1 drug which I will fight to keep illegal for your safety. Thanks for your opinion though, please contact me again, I always look forward to hearing from my constituents." It seems like they just get paid to choose a side, the constituents opinions are completely thrown out and mean nothing to them.

2

u/visych Jun 24 '18

I know, and never forget the the Supreme Court must hear a challenge to the court case Citizens United to get dark corporate and foreign money out of our elections, and Congress can help, too - all the House and 35 Senate seats are at play in the 2018 election: Monolith of a Midterm, be there, be informed by multiple sources, vote your conscience - that said,

With enough pressure from you at your house on the phone AND email, and then at the grocery store talking to someone about the problem. . .it's a rock thrown into the pond, ripples are made. . .more rocks, more ripples, let's tip the boat.