タイ、鎮痛作用の伝統的薬草「クラトム」合法化

【バンコクＡＦＰ＝時事】タイは２４日、伝統的な薬草として使われてきた熱帯植物「クラトム（学名：Ｍｉｔｒａｇｙｎａ　ｓｐｅｃｉｏｓａ）」を合法化した。米国など一部の保健当局は、クラトムの安全性を疑問視している。（写真はタイ・ノンタブリの農園で育てられているクラトム。薬物統制委員会事務局＜ＯＮＣＢ＞提供）
　コーヒー科のクラトムには、鎮痛作用と穏やかな刺激効果があり、東南アジアとパプアニューギニアで数百年にわたって使用されてきた。
　クラトムをめぐっては、米食品医薬品局（ＦＤＡ）が依存や乱用の恐れがあると警告したことから米国内で知られるようになった。
　アヌチャー・ブラパチャイシー報道官によると、今回の法改正で「一般市民がクラトムを合法的に消費・購入できるようになる」。また、クラトム関連で収監されている受刑者１０００人以上が釈放されるという。
　タイ開発研究所（ＴＤＲＩ）の調査によると、合法化により約１６億９０００万バーツ（約５５億７０００万円）の訴訟費用を節減できると推定されている。
　クラトムは、モルヒネと同じ脳の受容体を刺激するが、作用は弱い。タイでは主に深南部で、イスラム教徒の労働者らが肉体労働後の鎮痛剤として用いている。
　国際的な規制対象とはなっていないものの、世界保健機関（ＷＨＯ）は７月、クラトムを規制対象とすべきか調査中だと明らかにした。
　国際人権団体ヒューマン・ライツ・ウオッチのフィル・ロバートソン氏は「タイにおけるクラトムの合法化は、農村部で伝統的に使われてきた薬物の違法化という権利乱用を終わらせるものだ」とＡＦＰに述べた。
　タイは２０１９年、東南アジアで初めて医療用大麻を合法化している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/08/25-11:17）

Thailand on Tuesday decriminalised kratom, a tropical leaf long used as a herbal remedy but which some health regulators around the world have criticised as potentially unsafe.
Kratom -- scientific name Mitragyna speciosa -- is part of the coffee family, used for centuries in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea for its pain-relieving and mildly stimulating effects.
It has become increasingly popular in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned against its use, citing risks of addiction and abuse.
The change to Thai law means the general public will be able to consume and sell kratom legally, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said in a statement.
A Thailand Development Research Institute study estimated that decriminalisation will save authorities about 1.69 billion baht ($50 million) in prosecution costs.
Kratom stimulates the same brain receptors as morphine, though with much milder effects, and in Thailand it is mainly used in the deep south, where Muslim workers use it for pain relief after manual labour.
It has not been subject to international restrictions, though the World Health Organization announced last month that it was examining whether kratom should be considered for control.
Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said the decriminalisation of kratom -- which is native to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea -- was welcome, and frankly long overdue.
The legalisation of kratom in Thailand ends a legacy of rights-abusing criminalisation of a drug that has long been used in traditional, rural communities in the country, Robertson told AFP.
Soontorn Rakrong, an adviser to the committee on drafting the new legislation who has long advocated decriminalisation, said farmers in southern Thailand could grow kratom as a crop to make up for a fall in rubber prices.
In Indonesia, kratom is legal but its status is under review, with some politicians pushing for it to be banned.
Thai lawmakers have shown some appetite for reforming the kingdom's harsh anti-drug laws in recent years.
In 2019, Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to legalise medical marijuana, and the government has invested in the extraction, distillation and marketing of cannabis oils for use in the health industry.
But overcrowded Thai prisons are still packed with inmates handed long sentences for drugs offences -- possessing just a few methamphetamine pills can earn a decade in jail.
Jeremy Douglas of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said Thailand is discussing and considering drug rehabilitation and diversion programmes for meth users to ease some pressure off the system and also because it is more effective.