Breaking news from KratomHerald

[Pete2000]

This is awful if true.

https://kratomherald.com/the-aka-is-a-d ... ned-inclu/

[WarmFoothills]

Upstream working with NPA doesn't look great, I would hope the AKA addresses this. I mean, we don't really know the nature of the work Upstream did with them, but I've got to imagine it didn't have anything to do with kratom, as this article implies. Still, pretty strange and I hope there's an explanation.

[Pete2000]

Did a quick lookup on some of Upstream's clients. Most of the medical related ones are small companies working on natural products or novel therapies for niche markets, so I think the claim of being in bed with Big Pharma is overstated. You can see the clients year-by-year here:
https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lob ... 000016678L

More concerning to me is that he asks for contributions for the AKA, and then the AKA turns around and spends that money on his family's consulting firm. Maybe it's just me, but it sounds suspiciously similar to what he was tossed in jail for back in the 80's.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/09/15 ... 558676800/

[mivanqua]

^ yep. And this is the best we've got. SEND AKA MONEY NOW = i need some MONEY! Abbott Labs and Eli Lilly are both big pharma corps if you didn't know. Seems the kratom scene is rife with people taking advantage of others kindness, that's for sure. Unrelated : after we scrambled and gave him THOUSANDS of dollars, has anyone heard from Nerds past those two days he was on here afterwards?

[mivanqua]

^ yep. And this is the best we've got. SEND AKA MONEY NOW = i need some MONEY! Abbott Labs and Eli Lilly are both big pharma corps if you didn't know. Seems the kratom scene is rife with people taking advantage of others kindness, that's for sure, but that's all I'll say on the subject.

[pray4peace4]

Yikes! Isn't there another kratom national organization?

[Pete2000]

Here is the AKA’s response to the KratomHerald article.
https://www.americankratom.org/mediak/n ... tants.html

The response mentions that the KratomHerald’s publisher has created a Kratom advocacy group - The Kratom Federation (https://kratomfederation.com/) - to compete with the AKA. Looks like they’re selling a book and asking for donations.

Maybe I’m cynical, but I suspect these organizations will ultimately do a better job of lining their pockets rather than truly advocating for the majority of Kratom vendors and consumers.

[e_poison]

AKA is also aware of incidents being dredged up by the Kratom Herald that are decades old and that are a part of the public record. While none of that is relevant to our battle today, this mean-spirited and self-serving personal attack should be ignored because it is just a deliberate attempt to distract from the real motive of the attacks.

It's silly how they attempt to deflect this issue that was brought up. It's extremely relevant. He went to federal prison for stealing $55k from the government and a private foundation. Makes you wonder where those AKA donations are really going.

https://apnews.com/article/f58489a40918 ... d1896e3636

Anyway, I don't want to dig into this too much. None of us are saints. He did what he did and served his time. People can change. Just thought it was incredibly silly the way the response tried to address it and brush it off like it was nothing.

I do appreciate the AKA for what they are doing to keep kratom legal. There's no doubt they have a lot of important connections and fight for consumers. However, I feel they use fear mongering to get donations and they have no respect for the smaller vendors. I have very mixed feelings, but they're the best we got at the moment.

[BlatePapes]

I do appreciate the AKA for what they are doing to keep kratom legal. There's no doubt they have a lot of important connections and fight for consumers. However, I feel they use fear mongering to get donations and they have no respect for the smaller vendors. I have very mixed feelings, but they're the best we got at the moment.

THIS. I cannot stand this. I've said this before myself. The problem is that even the AKA with all the donations from every kratom user around does not have the fortitude and resources of "Big Pharma." Not that I think the fight is hopeless, but I don't believe that squeezing money from everyday users is the way to go. The companies that profit from kratom are the accounts they should go after. It's funny, I've emailed the AKA twice about donating and how to go about it being that we are not actually vendors, and they haven't once responded.. pretty odd if you ask me.

[RhodaNowhere]

Nope, don’t like that!

Somehow I have the feeling it won’t be all that long until Big Pharma adds a medicinal herbs & plants wing under their umbrella…$

[mivanqua]

Nope, don’t like that!

Somehow I have the feeling it won’t be all that long until Big Pharma adds a medicinal herbs & plants wing under their umbrella…$

Nope! Don't like that! Is that a MICHAEL SCOTT quote? Also, the good news is that if they could've, they would've by now, but apparently you can't patent a natural substance. That's good in our case, but it also makes bad things happen as well. Cheap alternatives are taken off the table (even banned) in favor of more expensive and even dangerous treatments....ahem! Everyone has heard the story of.pot being illegal, those damned paper mills! Personally, I have always wondered if other, even more nefarious, entities were behind it. Pharma is just...grimy!