The DEA claimed the plant should be a Schedule I substance and join the ranks of heroin, Ecstasy and marijuana as a chemical with "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse."

Kratom is one of those weird, understudied substances headshops sell alongside salvia and fly agaric mushrooms. And much like any drug, kratom's effects vary widely based on the user, the dose and the setting.

Some fans describe a stimulant effect at low doses, others claim a high dose mimics opiates (a claim with some scientific backing) while still others can gobble up the powdered plant with no high whatsoever. There's still a lot we don't know about the drug, which is a big reason the DEA shouldn't ban it. Marking a chemical Schedule I makes it incredibly hard to do any kind of scientific study.