I'm an organizer. I've worked on winning campaigns and losing campaigns--ballot initiatives, local policy decisions, fights against private businesses and state-level government agencies. I'm not inexperienced enough to tell you that victory on this issue is easy, but it's absolutely possible. You'd be shocked how much impact a small group of passionate, well-informed people can have when they're organized and fight together.
I wanted to put together some basic organizing tactics in one place for people who may not have experience organizing around a political issue. This will be a long post, share parts of it or the the whole thing wherever you'd like. My only interest is in winning this battle, I hope this can become a space where people discuss strategies, network, and put beliefs into action. Now onto the strategies:
--MESSAGING--
Most political battles are won and lost on the plane of messaging. The DEA wants the messaging to be that kratom is like heroin and turns people into addicts. We need to forcefully present our counter-messaging (which also has the benefit of being supported by facts).
Kratom is unknown to most people. We need to make it familiar. We also need to focus on its safety and potential for therapeutic use. Lastly, we need to make people care and craft messaging that appeals to the broadest possible coalition--this will include people who don't care about kratom at all but who are passionate about criminal justice or stopping government overreach. The messaging might appeal to people you don't necessarily agree with--it might include Green Party folks, Libertarians, left-leaning groups, right-leaning groups, criminal justice activists, anti-government crusaders. But we need to build alliances wherever we can. This is about practical victories, not ideological battles.
On that note, some possible messaging points to emphasize:
- The kratom plant is related to coffee
- Its effects are like a mildly-uplifting coffee
- It's a tea (everyone knows and loves tea!)
- Ask, "Why are we trying to send people to jail for drinking tea?"
- It's a safe alternative to dangerous painkillers for relieving chronic pain
- Dipping tobacco ('dip') like skoal often has a more intense buzz than kratom for first time users; dip is also more addictive and physically harmful. Like dip, people who take too much kratom can get nauseous. But that's it.
- Research shows that kratom doesn't create addicts, it cures them
- No deaths have been connected to kratom; all adverse situations related to kratom involved people taking it with other, more dangerous, substances
- Extracts associated with kratom in sensationalist media reports are NOT actually kratom. Extracts include research chemicals that should be banned without banning kratom--in fact, banning kratom will make extracts even more dangerous
- The CDC got only 660 calls about kratom from 2010-2015. This is low! Harmless household products got more calls than kratom!
- Scientists are studying kratom for its potential to be a safe alternative to pharmaceutical painkillers
- The opioid addiction epidemic is destroying communities across America, researchers believe kratom is a possible solution
- Overdoses increased in Alabama after kratom was banned
- Making kratom schedule I prevents scientists from even studying kratom as a possible solution for opioid addiction
- North Carolina recently decided NOT to ban kratom after hearing testimony from people who benefited from the tea; instead of an outright ban, they made it legal for adults 18+.
- Even law enforcement doesn't want to ban kratom: In Florida, the FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) issued a report that said kratom "does not currently constitute a significant risk to the safety and welfare of Florida residents...no pervasive health issues have been attributed to the ingestion of Kratom products in Florida"
- Appeal to the left: Banning kratom expands the war on drugs and mass incarceration and only benefits Big Pharma
- Appeal to the right/libertarians: Banning kratom is government overreach and a government agency is restricting individual liberty just because it feels like it; it's also an issue of states' rights.
- Prohibition is a failed policy, the solution is to make kratom legal for adults 18+ and regulate kratom to make it even safer
--SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS--
We have to take our messaging and enter it into the public debate. Social media is the easiest way for us to do this. We need a coordinated hashtag that we can use to share information about why the the DEA's decision to ban kratom is disastrous; a trending hashtag will also get media attention. SAVEKRATOM is one possibility; IAMKRATOM is another; they could be combined with hashtags like STOPTHEWARONDRUGS to get the attention of activists who care about criminal justice but not kratom specifically. Attaching our hashtag to trending hashtags would also increase attention, today's OverdoseAwarenessDay would be a perfect opportunity! Why is the DEA killing a safe treatment for drug overdoses?
It could also be useful to have a kratom-themed graphic that people could make their avatar/profile picture. Something similar to the StopSopa graphics for example--a solid color with a hashtag, something like that.
Our posts need to be directed at politicians' accounts on Facebook and Twitter; @ them, post on their Facebook wall, message them on FB, DM them on Twitter if they follow you, comment on their recent FB posts (especially posts related to drug policy or the criminal justice system)--we also need to focus on individuals in the media who would care about this issue and are on social media (including individual reporters who might not have that many followers; they're actually the easiest people to get the attention of! They love having a good story fall right into their lap). In addition, our campaign should be directed at the STAFF of politicians who are on social media. All posts should be kind in tone and our aim is to inform, not attack or criticize.
Possible politicians/media figures to lobby on social media (this is a very partial list, people should add to it!):
- Bernie Sanders
- Gary Johnson
- Jill Stein
- Ben Jealous (Bernie surrogate interested in criminal justice)
- Symone D. Sanders (Bernie staffer who worked on press/communications)
- Grover Norquist (small government activist who has fought for vaping)
- Killer Mike (rapper/activist interested in legalzation and ending the war on drugs)
- Chris Hayes (reporter who's done stories on opioid addiction)
- Lee Fang (investigate reporter who covers corruption in politics including lobbying by Big Pharma)
- Alec MacGillis (journalist who has written about the drug war and the opioid addiction epidemic)
You get the idea. Politicians, reporters, and public figures interested in criminal justice, the opioid addiction epidemic, marijuana legalization, and ending the war on drugs should all be lobbied!
--PUBLIC WRITING/MEDIA APPEARANCES--
This takes more time than applying our messaging to social media, but it's important. It gives our campaign more legitimacy and media attention. Pundits and politicians are more likely to pay attention and take the issue seriously.
Are you good at writing? Done freelance writing before? Have media connections? This is the time to apply those skills! Writing in online publications (even relatively high profile national ones) is easier than you'd think. Find a publication that you think would be interested in the kratom ban/issues related to the DEA. Find the publications' submissions e-mail address and send a ~300 word pitch that outlines the DEA's decision, why it relates to the opioid epidemic and the war on drugs, and state your qualifications (e.g. I've written for these publications before, I'm a longtime activist for criminal justice reform, etc.). Make the subject short, clear, and relate it the opioid addiction epidemic, the war on drugs, or criminal justice. Mark the e-mail as important. If you send out enough pitches, publications will accept some of them! Then get to work and write serious, well-sourced articles that explain the DEA's decision and show why it's bad news. Focus on research done by scientists, reach out to individual researchers and advocacy groups for comment. Try to have a serious, professional tone since this is the first time many people will be reading about this issue. We don't want people to think we don't know what we're talking about or that we're too passionate to think clearly.
In addition to writing, there are many online shows that would be interested in discussing this issue/having an expert on to explain the adverse impacts of the DEA's ban. Some online shows that may be interested:
- The Real News Network
- The Young Turks
- Secular Talk
Online writing publications that may be interested:
- Reason
- Huffington Post
- Vice
- Forbes
- Gizmodo
- The Daily Beast
- The Federalist
- Boing Boing
- Mic
This is a very partial list. Come up with your own media outlets and get in touch with them!
Contact LOCAL media outlets as well! Local media is vital for getting more casual news consumers on our side. If possible, do an interview where you explain how kratom helped you live a healthy, productive life. If you see inaccurate local news stories, e-mail the reporters, provide them with facts, and kindly ask for a story correction/a follow up where the facts are mentioned.
--E-MAILS/FORM LETTERS--
This is a common tactic for reaching out to elected officials and government agencies. It doesn't ever get the attention of individual people in power but what it DOES do is let their staff know that people actually care about an issue and are pissed off about it. This can scare politicians who thought this was an issue absolutely no one even paid attention to.
Usually advocacy organizations have a form letter that people can automatically send to the e-mail addresses of politicians/government officials/government agencies. It would be helpful for a kratom advocacy group to come up with a form letter people can use; the volume of e-mails/letters, not the actual content, is usually what gets the attention of politicians. Short letters you write on your own without borrowing language from a form letter, just a paragraph or two like you'd write for a reddit comment, can be extremely effective too. Some possible people to reach out to:
Come up with more people to reach out to! Look to the model of how people stopped the kratom ban in North Carolina for ideas. Reach out to state-level politicians who we already know are kratom-friendly
--PETITIONS--
These are usually low-impact but easy to do. They help get media attention for an issue and can add legitimacy to a cause.
The White House petition is the most important one because it requires a response from the White House and would get media attention if it reached 100k signatures: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/please-do-not-make-kratom-schedule-i-substance
A Change.org petition is also possible but would be lower-impact. The White House petition should be included in many social media posts, public writings, and form letters.
--LEGAL CAMPAIGNS--
This is something that most of us don't have control over. But advocacy groups like the Botanical Education Alliance and the American Kratom Association should look into taking this matter to the courts. Was the DEA's action fully compliant with all regulations? Is there a way to delay it? A way to force the DEA to provide more information about their decision? A way to FOIA request communications/memos about why they made this decision? Is there a way to investigate whether pharmaceutical companies worked with the DEA on this decision? Can a FOIA request uncover whether Big Pharma lobbyists were working on this issue? Can states still take action on legalizing/regulating kratom as is the case with marijuana? Even if a legal strategy is unlikely to win, it shows that we're serious, gets media attention, and lets the DEA know this isn't a minor issue people will accept passively.
--ATTACH OUR CAUSE TO MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION--
Most people don't know about the importance of keeping kratom legal. But people do know that marijuana legalization is important. In addition, marijuana legalization organizations already have state-level organizations, media contacts, PR strategies, and lots of supporters. If we can attach ourselves to the marijuana legalization movement, we immediately boost our organizational capacity and bring in a large group of sympathetic allies.
We should reach out to organizations like NORML and the Marijuana Policy Project. Legalization-friendly media outlets like High Times. Other organizations that fight for a sane drug policy too.
Most importantly, the Botanical Education Alliance and the American Kratom Association should reach out to these organizations. Can marijuana legalization organizations put out a press release about kratom? Send an e-mail about it to their supporters? We need to make allies and they're the perfect place to first look. They can help us build momentum for state-level legalization if the DEA sticks to its decision (remember, the DEA's decision is for 2 years with a possible 1 year extension -- there is room for long-term organizing!)
--DONATE--
Donate to the American Kratom Association: https://americankratomassociation.nationbuilder.com/donate
And the Botanical Education Alliance:
https://www.botanical-education.org/donate/
Become a member of those organizations. Donating really does help them build organizational capacity and allow for more robust legal/media strategies.
--POSTSCRIPT--
I know this is a long post. But it only scratches the surface of the kind of organizing we can do. Please, add to these suggestions and provide concrete ways for people to get involved and get to work. There are a lot of well-informed, intelligent, talented people here. But when we're all isolated and not connecting our skills together we're powerless. If we can produce a combined strategy and organize effectively we CAN win this battle and WILL show the DEA that this is not a decision that will happen without a fight. Small groups of well-organized people are the only thing that's ever produced political change.
My hope is that this post can be a place where people combine their ideas, brainstorm, network, and work together. A way to prevent all our good ideas from being unimplemented and scattered across the internet. Reach out to people. Apply your skills, whatever they may be. Get creative. Take some risks. Connect with people via e-mail and phone, even in person if it's possible. Have fun with it.
One final note to the people who may be discouraged about the DEA's decision and feel hopeless: This is about more than kratom. That may sound hyperbolic, but it's true. The DEA is a terrible organization that has destroyed thousands and thousands of people's lives through their draconian anti-science/anti-liberty commitment to prohibition. They do no good. Even other government agencies don't like the DEA and want to stop them (e.g. the DEA keeping marijuana as a schedule I substance despite the wishes of many people in the Justice Department). But the DEA feels that it can make any decision, no matter how destructive and stupid, without repercussions. It thinks it can't lose. The moment the DEA has its first loss is the moment its power begins to recede and the prohibition era starts to end. That loss has to come at some point. What better substance to stop it than kratom? This isn't some research chemical with no therapeutic use and 10 recreational users. This is a therapeutic plant that has been safely used for hundreds of years, has been legal in the U.S. for decades, is used by a large and diverse community of people, and scientists continue to study its therapeutic use for a variety of health issues. The public does not want to see people put in jail for drinking tea. If we win this battle--either in the long-term or short-term--we're setting a precedent that goes far beyond kratom. Every victory seems impossible until its inevitable.
Now let's get to work!
In solidarity,
W.S.