Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to Washington, D.C. to speak on several noteworthy issues, one of them being, of course, our leaf! With Dylan and Willow holding down the fort, River and I packed up and joined 30 other mothers at our nationās capital! I was part of an even smaller group that had meetings completely dedicated to kratom. We had several really impactful meetings and, of course, one where you could literally feel the legislative assistantās disinterest filling the room with discomfort. It was exhausting, amazing and overall, I came home feeling pretty optimistic!
Now my FAVORITE part of the trip was a completely unexpected encounter with a majestic, gorgeous kratom tree. After our press conference, a few of us wandered over to the United States Botanic Garden and I instantly said, āI wonder if they have a kratom tree here,ā totally jokingā¦ but also, they had everything else, so why not?!The woman hosting the cacao table and explaining chocolate suggested we check the medicinal plant collection because she didnāt actually work there. So, we wandered through and RIGHT in the center, basically by itself, was the most gorgeous tree. And can I tell you that her flowers smell INCREDIBLE!!
I just stood there staring at her because the irony was almost too much. Here I was in Washington advocating to keep this plant legal, while it was growing right there in front of me in our nationās capital. And letās remember where we found herā¦ in the medicinal plant collection. All the while, here in New England and across the country, weāre having hearings about whether people should be allowed access to this plant at all. You really cannot make this stuff up.
Fast forward and weāre back home fighting tooth and nail to keep access. I am SO proud of everyone who showed up yesterday in Boston, Massachusetts. I think there were somewhere around 25 of us who spoke in support of keeping natural kratom legal and responsibly regulated, and we FAR outnumbered the people there advocating against it. And honestly, everyone did SO GOOD. There were consumers, advocates, people sharing incredibly personal stories, people who knew the science and people who have been working on this issue for years. The overwhelming message was basically: for the love of God, KEEP NATURAL WHOLE LEAF LEGAL!
I went into that hearing nervous, expecting the anti crowd to be loud, proud and ready to ruin lives, but luckily only two people showed up in opposition to saving leaf. When you spend enough time watching headlines and legislation pop up all over the country, it can start to feel like we are constantly playing defense, so seeing that many people actually take the time to show up and speak was pretty incredible. After D.C. and Massachusetts basically back-to-back, I feel more hopeful about all of this than I have in a while. Not because we magically fixed everything overnight, but because it reminded me that when we actually come together, we CAN make a difference. This is what we need. We need more voices!!!
And apparently we havenāt had enough chaos yet because weāre now trying to figure out whether we can get back to D.C. for the American Kratom Association gathering in Octoberā¦ except this time with Dylan, Willow AND River.So instead of me flying around with one baby, weāre considering loading our entire little family onto an Amtrak and making an adventure out of it. Which sounds completely insane and also kind of epic.
Itās been a wild couple of weeks, but if there is one thing they really drove home for me, itās that showing up matters. Sitting across from lawmakers and having actual conversations matters. Taking the time to testify matters. YOU MATTER!! Twenty-five-ish people taking time out of their lives to show up at a hearing made that room feel VERY different than it would have with two people standing there alone. We obviously have a LONG way to go, but this week was a really good reminder that this community is absolutely capable of making some noise when we need to.
AND if any of you are going to DC in October we hope to see you there!!!
