JAKARTA, June 20 — Indonesia has said it would start regulating the cultivation and export of kratom or ketum, a substance that advocates say can help ease pain alongside other benefits, but is listed in the United States (US) as a drug of concern.
The controls on the native Southeast Asian tree leaves would improve quality, said the president's chief of staff Moeldoko to the press.
"A number of our exporters faced rejections because their products had been contaminated," he said.
People in the Indonesian part of Borneo island have been growing and consuming kratom for generations, using it as a traditional treatment for a range of ailments.
The leaves, which are also grown, sold and exported across the region, have been used in products that promise to ease pain, anxiety, and depression and to help people cope with opioid use disorder and opioid withdrawal.
But the US Food and Drug Administration has said kratom has similar effects to narcotics such as opioids, has listed it as a "drug and chemical of concern" and has not approved it for any medical use.
Moeldoko said that Indonesian President Joko Widodo has instructed the national research agency BRIN to look into the consumption of kratom, especially its dosage.
Under the planned new regulations, the government would also limit the number of companies allowed to export kratom in a bid to keep up standards, he added.
When asked about the prohibition of kratom use in a number of countries, he said at least 20 markets were interested in importing Indonesian kratom.
— Reuters
