It’s down the street. It’s touched close friends. Yep, there’s a new Special K in town — and its name is kratom. The herbal drug is on the rise, and it’s scary.
Kratom isn’t exactly killing people in droves, but it is destroying lives. In its pill, liquid, or leaf form, the drug, which comes from a wild-growing tree in Southeast Asia, is billed as a safe painkiller that can be ordered legally online and bought in your neighborhood CBD/kratom/hemp store. And while kratom addiction isn’t brand new, the FDA has only now declared the drug an opioid.
“Kratom should not be used to treat medical conditions, nor should it be used as an alternative to prescription opioids,” an FDA report dated Feb. 6 says. “There is no evidence to indicate that kratom is safe or effective for any medical use. And claiming that kratom is benign because it’s ‘just a plant’ is shortsighted and dangerous.” The organization continues, pointing out that heroin is a dangerous and addictive substance also derived from a plant, the poppy, that occurs in nature.
There have been 44 deaths in the U.S. due to kratom use, the FDA says in the same report. Kratom has also recently been listed as a Schedule I drug by the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Some sing the praises of kratom, saying it is a “safe” herb that helps wean people off other opioids.
Even with the new FDA designation, the DEA’s official website merely classifies kratom as a “drug of concern” — keeping no statistics on it. But a DEA press release in August announced that kratom would be added to the Schedule I list of drugs alongside heroin, LSD, and marijuana. Yet waters are still murky regarding the legality of it, especially since it’s still easily purchased online.
Just like marijuana, it comes in every stripe — with varieties sporting names like Bali Gold and Green Thai. But unlike marijuana, you can drink kratom as a tea. Intense euphoria washes over your body. Your face becomes warm to hot. Users report feeling drowsy. And you fall asleep, nodding in and out with waking dreams.
I’m opposed to kratom because one of my best friends has experienced the wrath of kratom first hand. Her husband — we’ll call him Tony — has gone to rehab three times to break his addiction. Tony was maxing out credit cards, spending upwards of $100 a day on high-potency liquid kratom. Now he and his wife are broke because of it. And he recently relapsed. Again. Now he is also addicted to kava, another leaf that can be converted into tea and has euphoric and sedative properties.
Getting high on kratom is not unlike abusing Oxycontin, which is also dangerous and highly addictive in high doses. Users report sweating and getting the shakes and hot flashes. There can also be nausea among first-time users.
So heed my warning. Some alcoholics might be tempted to try it, but like alcohol it can be addictive. Stay away. It’s just another path to addiction.
