Kratom products mislabeled with high-mitragynine can pose greater risks | Opinion

Kratom truth

In a recent letter to The Star (July 6, 18A), David Bregger spoke out against 7-OH, a natural compound in kratom used to manage pain. He suggested it might have played a role in his son’s death.

What happened to the Bregger family is every parent’s worst nightmare. No parent should ever experience that loss.

We believe honoring their grief means being clear about the facts, because a safer option for people in pain is at stake unnecessarily.

7-OH wasn’t in the product Daniel Bregger took. It wasn’t on the market in 2021. Reports say he died after taking a mislabeled kratom product with high-mitragynine, common in products promoted by the American Kratom Association and Global Kratom Coalition.

Meanwhile, new studies show 7-OH is safe. Food and Drug Administration data show no confirmed deaths from 7-OH alone. After 500 million doses, it’s been linked to only two deaths involving other substances. High-mitragynine products have been tied to more than 200.

Regardless, we believe 7-OH should be regulated with age limits, dosage caps, labeling and third-party testing. It’s just common sense.

Mr. Bregger’s loss is a tragedy. It deserves action based on facts. And the facts point to high-mitragynine products as the danger, not 7-OH.

- Jeff Smith, National policy director, Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust, St. Louis

Feeding us

Joel Mathis asked: “Who the heck do you think is going to feed you if every Trump-voting farmer goes bankrupt?” (July 10, 10A, “Farmers who voted for Trump are feeling the pain: Hold your glee, lefties”)

Who will feed us? That would be the billionaire corporations — you know, the constituency Republicans really work for — that will buy those farms for nearly nothing, leaving real farmers homeless and destitute. And the cost of that food will be much higher than it should be, because profit is their god. And, of course, the religious right will support that, because billionaires have convinced them that the Russian asset they have installed as president is the new Jesus.

I dare you to publish this.

- Mike O’Hara, Davie, Florida

Which kingdom?

I’m glad Jesus came when he did, because fat chance he could immigrate today, certainly not to the United States. Fortunately, his family was able to immigrate to Egypt when the then monarch felt his power threatened and went on a killing spree.

In today’s culture, however, would Jesus have been suspect if applying for immigration status? He was a 30-year-old, never-married man, living with his mother. He gathered a group of men to follow him while he preached to crowds of peaceful people about such things as taking care of the poor, marginalized, sick and disenfranchised — sharing what we have.

When did Jesus get in trouble? When he criticized the priestly elite, those in power, hypocrites and money-changers. Those very folks, feeling their power and status threatened, got the Roman government to arrest, torture and kill Jesus — publicly, just in case anyone else might follow his ideas, especially about such things as a coming kingdom.

Some parallels are obvious, but the silence I hear is even more deafening. Courage is not our most shining virtue today, especially among our leadership. Perhaps it will come again, like Jesus.

- Marilyn Schaeffer, Kansas City

Real freedom

Paul Mullen’s July 4 commentary, “This Independence Day, you’re not as free as you think,” is nonsensical. First, working people pay more as a percentage in sales and FICA taxes than the rich. Warren Buffet said his secretary paid a higher percentage in taxes than he.

From the 1940s until the 1970s, business investment and productivity were higher than after the Reagan tax cuts. When the top rate was raised during the Bill Clinton administration, the federal government started running a budget surplus. When the George W. Bush administration slashed the top rate, we had the 2008 financial crisis that erased trillions of dollars of assets.

The trillions going to the wealthiest 1% isn’t invested productively. Instead, it chases speculative returns in financial assets, cryptocurrency and read estate. Who’s the “god” in the “god given right”? The god of greed?

Mullen is a senior associate for marketing at the Heritage Foundation, whose Project 2025 is the greatest threat to freedom we face today. I’d like to ask Mullen, “Where’s the beef?” in the famous words of the hamburger commercial, as quoted by Walter Mondale in 1984.

- Gary Brush, Kansas City