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The Washington Times reports [Link no longer available]
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] will hold off on a previously-announced ban of the herbal drug Kratom while soliciting additional input from the public and the Food and Drug Administration [FDA].
A DEA announcement in August that it planned to add the psychoactive compounds in Kratom to the list of Schedule I drugs[1] banned under the Controlled Substances Act drew outrage from individuals who believe the herbal supplement, which is derived from trees indigenous to Southeast Asia, can help individuals struggling with opioid addiction.
"Since publishing that notice, DEA has received numerous comments from members of the public challenging the scheduling action and requesting that the agency consider those comments and accompanying information before taking further action," states a notice[PDF] issued [October 12] by the DEA that it will withdraw its proposal to ban the substance.
[...] In addition to accepting public comments[2] on Kratom through December 1, the DEA has also asked for a scientific and medical evaluation of the drug by the FDA. [DEA spokesman Melvin] Patterson said the DEA initially asked for such an assessment in 2014, but never received the results and opted to go forward with the ban without the assessment.
[...] Susan Ash, who founded the American Kratom Association in 2014 to advocate for users of the drug, said [...] "We believe Kratom should not be scheduled in any way, shape or form," Ms. Ash said. "It's been consumed safely for decades in the U.S. and world-wide for millennium, so there is no impetus to make it a controlled substance."
[1] Claimed to have no legit medical value and a high potential for abuse (as Cannabis is classified)
[2] Their directions are in the PDF, which tells you to go to a ridiculous page which is driven by scripts and use the code Docket No. DEA-442W. It's as if they want to make it as difficult as possible to comment.
Previous: The Calm Before the Kratom Ban
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2016, @04:21PM
Regardless of what 99% of people want, these scripts make the site inaccessible. I can't use the site, because I don't run scripts. Anyone with a screenreader has very incomplete javascript support, if any. It doesn't matter if 99% of people like dynamic script content, because the few people who can't run scripts are completely justified in refusing to run them, and should not (and cannot legally) be disenfranchised like this.
There are laws preventing governments from doing this type of thing, but nobody follows them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2016, @05:03PM
You can always file a complaint with the DOJ for most places. I've had fairly good results doing that. But one thing to note, the vast majority of the ADA doesn't actually apply to the Federal Government. And I don't mean in the "they just ignore the laws they don't like" sort of way; I mean in a literal "the law doesn't mention them" sort of way.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 17 2016, @05:36PM
Javascript should be only for web applications. Not for web sites.
Web 'sites' should have graceful degradation.
One of the presidential candidates, I won't name names, but who regularly degrades women; whoever he or she is, would like to learn about graceful degradation.
Would a Dyson sphere [soylentnews.org] actually work?
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday October 17 2016, @06:39PM
Which screenreader stumbles on that site? Jaws works fine.