Over the past several years, we’ve seen many products labeled as “designer drugs”. Things like K2, Bath Salts, and Spice have all made their way across the country, enjoying some time in the media spotlight. Each one of these substances has then been labeled a dangerous drug and criminalized. Now, according to a report from CBS Dallas-Fort Worth, there’s a new drug to add to the list.
Kratom is a substance you can apparently find at local smoke shops. It’s a liquid derived from a leafy tree in Thailand. Already illegal in that country, Kratom is considered an herbal remedy for pain and an alternative to opium.
Here, you can find it at an increasing number of smoke shops, where clerks say it works to relieve pain, enhance mood, and even prolong sex. As for the warning on the side that reads “not for human consumption,” clerks selling Kratom can’t explain that.
“The liquid is one of the best sellers and one of my personal favorites,” said one clerk interviewed by CBS.
Like other “designer drugs” before it, Kratom is not regulated by the FDA because it is sold as a natural supplement rather than a drug or medication. However, like the ones before it, if Kratom grows in popularity, there’s a good chance the government will ban it completely.
A January 2013 report from the DEA found the substance to have sedative and euphoric effects and could potentially lead to addiction, nausea, and other side effects. The North Texas Poison Center has received calls on the drug and says it has been linked to high pulse, high blood pressure, confusion, and agitation.
Some are concerned that the drug is being laced with other drugs, even hydrocodone. The DEA has been seizing some imports at the border for testing and finding the Thai tree extract isn’t the only thing inside.
For now, Kratom is legal. But like its predecessors, that could change if it starts getting more media coverage and public backlash. If and when that happens, drug possession charges could be levied to those who have the liquid, and drug distribution charges to those who still try and sell it.
The War on Drugs is an ineffective war. If anything, it has helped fuel the current drug trade and has created a demand for products like Kratom. While no one would suggest things like heroin and cocaine are good for you, we know arrest and incarceration isn’t going to help.
And with a majority of Texans supporting marijuana legalization, there is simply no reason why potentially dangerous substances like this need to be a legal “alternative” to pot.
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If you think quitting kratom is difficult try quitting its 1st cousin “Starbucks” or any latte’. Kratom is a breeze to stop. Some of us, in fact the majority who take kratom, don’t take it as an alternative to opium, we take it because we wish not to take opium, and that’s the only other alternative (according to the medical community.
And I’m talking about the millions of Americans who suffer from chronic severe pain, and pot is too pricey, and we don’t care for the euphoria; something that kratom doesn’t offer (unless given in very high volume…or extract); but I don’t even consider kratom extract to be kratom; it is so immersed in methane gasses, etc A good analogy might be grapes and wine, or pot and hashish. Grapes and pot may be harmless; in fact healthy, but the other two may not be.
Am I worried its laced with hydrocone? Not really; it never has been and I have had it checked periodically at my local college. Why would a vendor go to the trouble to take a loss on a plant (notice I said plant as it is one; not a drug), that hasn’t a very high markup.
Designer drug? Go look up the definition. Kratom is not even in that league. Actually God (if you happen to be a believer designed it); its a totally organic plant, like artichokes, okra and celery (oh and its sister coffee).
So do I just sit on the couch, take kratom and watch soap operas?
Not quite.
In my late 50s I returned to school for my degree in IT, opened 6 businesses (4 of them successful..can’t win ’em all); and married (my first marriage) the woman of my dreams (she definitely made up for the biz losses).
Neither of us drink, smoke pot, take drugs etc. But she discovered kratom totally heals her “womens mid-life issues) whereas nothing prescribed even came close and that makes us both very happy.
I have neuralgia, heart disease and a litany of other ailments. I was given drugs for pain and sent home. It was no quality of life.
Thank God I discovered kratom; I hike, I jog, I bike ride, I play the guitar again, I have my life back.
Please do your research before buying into another “Reefer Madness”. We (America) did that in 1935 due to our first drug czar (bigoted) trying to make a name for himself; and a benign often prescribed medicinal herb was suddenly a schedule 1 drug along with cocaine and heroin.
How did that work out for us, America?
Interesting analogies with the extracts.
Most of what is sold and abused seems to be the kratom extract in pill or liquid form.
Either way, making it illegal is not the answer.
Of course….I’ve been using it (non-extract only) for about 1.5 years. Never a high, a euphoria, etc. 37 years ago while in college 1st time around I did smoke pot and DID inhale; so I know euphoria. Someone using straight kratom leaf for recreational purposes is going to be in for a big disappointment. However if they have fibro, tendenitis, arthritis etc, they will thank the heavens. Most of us have tried every single medically prescribed drug under the sun and it either didn[‘t work or we abhor the opiate fogginess (that kratom leaf does not give). I believe kratom extract was actually made for recreation. It couldn’t be so for pain as I’ve talked to those who have taken it and the duration is very short. Those of us with this kind of pain need a substance that will last 2-5 hours which most of the leaf does. There’s a lot of demonization going on; “deja vu all over again” to quote Yogi, as when pot was labeled “locoweed” causing Mexican men to cross the border, kidnap and rape our women (so said the bigoted drug czar) wanting a name for himself. Of course none of that was true, but till this day a medicinal herb is still a schedule 1 drug in most states, and people suffer terribly that it could help with little or no side effects. The kratom story reminds me of pot (you don’t see NORML trying to legalize hashish…..it’s an extract using chemicals and could easily be dangerous) and I feel the same way about the extract, which should probably be either controlled, or if they find its dangerous banned. But not kratom leaf. That’s a huge mistake to ban it.
THIS IS SO IGNORANT,..THIS IS A GOD GIVEN MIRACLE PLANT,..IDIOTS!
PS: Nobody yet has told me what is dangerous about kratom (and 99.9% don’t know the difference between kratom and kratom extract (which is apples and oranges). Since it is reported nobody in at least 1000 years has ever died from kratom, has overdosed on kratom, has committed a crime to obtain more kratom etc. what is the danger? Oh, its habitforming. Oh then lets close all the Starbucks because I can promise it is more habit forming (have quit both and Starbucks is hell to give up, kratom only slightly uncomfortable). You see, all these kneejerk statements have no references. I have references of studies if anyone is interested. Lots of studies have been done. In America? Of course not. NIH does not give grants unless it is to find out what is WRONG with a plant. However Ole Miss did a glowing clinical trial on kratom in January 2013, and is scheduled to do more. It could easily close down most rehabs. They call it nothing less than amazing. So the “Reefer Madness” stories seem to be a day late and a dollar short. Science is proving them wrong. And did years ago in SE Asia and Euro countries.
Makes sense that kratom extract is given kratom a bad name.
The different between the kratom extract in pill or liquid form that is being advertised and sold in packages on smoke shop shelves, and natural kratom is significant. Especially for something that most people know very little about.
And that stuff in packages, who knows exactly what it is. Probably not even the people selling it. Maybe if you but the natural stuff it’s a different story.
That’s the beauty of buying cannabis from a professional like http://www.harborsidehealthcenter.com/. You know exactly what you are getting, and the people selling it will stand by it!
TY Rob, I feel as you do. Kratom is a pure safe oranic plant with no issues or problems; we don’t now about kratom extract; it might be completely safe it it may be extremely dangerous. If it is t
o be dangerous, it is not the kratom in it that is dangerous; but the methane gasses and other chemicals. It’s not even kratom anymore just like extracted pot (hashish) is no longer pot. We know that extract has sent people to the ER; wheras regular kratom never has. It appears it is the vendors insisting on selling kratom extract that might be ruining kraom’s chances of staying legal. Methane gas and manmade chemicals are not made by God but my mankind, usually with the motive of greed in mind. Stick to kratom leaf or capsules and steer clear from extract until they know, like kratom, that its safe. They do not know yet. Why risk it.
One has to shop, but the 3 kratom vendors with whom I deal (have taken it to the local univ science lab for DNA testing. It’s the real thing, unadulterated; pure kratom; I feel much safer than I did with my pot dealer 37 years ago in college when paraquat was rampant and dangerous. Today I suppose that’s all gone. I can easily see that kratom is very similar in health benefits.
The kratom capsules are linked to healing powers on a person. To determine the proper dosage with Kratom capsules, you should analyze what your goals are and how much time you desire.