(mod, please move if in the wrong place...)
Last night on both the radio and the television news ( I dont know if the sattions are related somehow, the stories were written differently) there was a story on the new scourge of youth, a horrid new drug that "is only legal because the police dont know about it yet", something that causes stimulation in low doses, but "confusion, hallucinations and hysteria" in large doses. What is it? KRATOM!
Apparently a girl ( IDK her gae)was found running around naked and ranting about something. She was found or claimed to be on kratom. The tv story included an interview with a guy who runs a telephone fear and hysteria,er, I mean education line for parents and the above quotes are his. It is fascinating to me as to how he became an expert because the interviewr even said after that the fella had never heard of kratom when they started speaking. What!?!
I dont use kratom, but have a couple friends who have had sucess getting off methadone with it. Anything that can help with that should be available, pushed even. But if its effective there will be a serious effort by the big pharma manufacturers to eradicate it. What can we do about this kind of thing? Would writing congressmen help? This was in Portland Oregon BTW.

This sounds more like those synthetic cannabinoid 'spice' blends than kratom. Or booze, for that matter.

I have taken kratom over 100 times and can assure you there is a misunderstanding and IF it IS kratom then she has predisposed mental issues with the combining of this plant with her current physiological makeup.

Well it's now going to get more attention because I just took my kids to see that "Incredible Burt Wonderstone" movie (which I thought was really dumb, by the way) and in the movie they use Kratom as part of a magic trick because they say it knocks people unconscious.

I haven't ever used Kratom before, but I can't imagine this is good for the plant.

Just wanted to let you guys know about that.

It's not. But there are always two sides of the coin. Hopefully, in the end, truth will win.

But then again, what is that anyway?

I've seen something similar to this first hand. I can see where this can be misinterpreted as the effects of kratom. In this case, the person was using kratom to reduce their opiate withdrawal symptoms. They were also using a lot of dissociatives as well.

The progression of psychosis in this person was terrifyingly fast and intense. I don't believe it was the kratom, rather it was the opiate abuse along with the dissociative abuse. This person called the paramedics in a fit of withdrawal and psychosis and the paramedics arrived with police. The police shook them up very roughly and grilled them as to what they were on. When they said, "kratom" as this was their only intake of psychoactives this day, they police shouted something about the person being "hopped up" on kratom and tackled a trembling emaciated bed-ridden chronic pain patient as if they were an armed felon.

I don't think the officers knew what the hell kratom was, and I think that many in law enforcement are attracted to the profession simply because it allows them free license to be violent and abusive, even to people who pose absolutely no threat to them.

I've seen people use kratom as a means to self taper off of opiates and then lead a successfully opiate free life after that point, however I think this use of it poses a threat to the powers-that-be worse then misuse, as now prescribing doctors, and pharmaceutical companies could lose a source of income from enslaving people to the professionally pressed and officially sanctioned legal opiates.

This is getting absurd!

Look up the Kratom Association, apparently they helped to stop Iowa and Louisiana from banning this useful herb, but were unsuccessful in Indiana - so far the only U.S. state to ban kratom.

And, yes, writing your senator/congressman MAY help... especially if you have multiple people calling. But, don't count on it.

I also am a kratom user, i use it every day
when i was younger i had problems with anxiety etc.. and all the psychs gave me meds that made rly go nuts, benzos help really well, but are not an option due to its addictive and horrible w/d.
Now i use 2 tbsp of kratom mixed in orange juice every morning and i feel no fear whatsoever to go to the supermarket or talking to persons.
I should be able to learn to do this without kratom, but for now i am happy i can use this plant for my social activities, work etc..
It is addictive too, but the w/d are not that bad, one day restless leg and some bad sleep, but then i drink a glass of wodka and fall asleep. Next day no w/d only my anxiety comes back after some time. Aya or other psychedelics never 'cured' me from this.. I guess its too genetical to change it with plant hallucinogens. So kratom is my buddy every day to have a nice anxiety free life.
the other downside is that it makes me have lack of sexual intercourse. I dont feel the urge anymore to have sex, still can tho, but these emotions are blocked also with kratom,
i heard a lot of pple experience this with long term kratom use. But if u quit the kratom, the hornyness should come back fast

Venom:
I've heard that loss of libido comes with long term use of any opioid - and kratom's actives are certainly opioids. I'm glad to hear that this plant helps you with you anxiety, it is hard for people without anxiety issues to grasp how crippling social anxiety can be. I would just warn against using this plant daily for a long time. While it takes quite a while for the process of opioid tolerance/dependence to develop, much longer than with any other opioid I am familiar with, it will still develop if you don't take breaks. Like, week long ones at least. Using this plant even 4/7 days of the week will STILL lead to tolerance and dependence.

But you probably know al that already!

I've seen this video

i am planning on detoxing on this,
trying kava kava instead of kratom ( altho i can get kraotm dirt cheap and kava kava is priced like champaign i have to figure out a plan, tapering down and suppletion with kratom or something else?
anyone has experience with this?

Check out my SM icon I've been working with this plant for years both Kava/Kratom feel free to PM me anytime and I can help you anytime.

The link to the Kratom thread in my signature is also very informative overviewing the compounds and research done with Kratom.

sorry what is the icon u mean?

Just that I work with harm reduction and addiction support for members.

That sounds to me like she took something scarier than kratom (bath salts maybe? Designer drugs? Something illegal?) and told them she was on kratom because she knew it was legal.

As for whether kratom is on its way out, I'm inclined to doubt it. Look at how salvia has been treated in the last few years: yes, in some, more conservative states, it has been banned, but the general trend seems to be that more and more people are realizing prohibition doesn't work, and while they may not be in favor of legalizing currently illegal drugs, they seem to be warier about criminalizing existing legal ones.

I'm not too worried about kratom.

UNLESS, of course, the DEA steps in and uses their unilateral power to ban it, however, even at the Federal level, prohibition seems to be winding down.

We'll see. In the meantime, I've already got quite a healthy kratom plant, so if legal kratom does go the way of all flesh, I'm good.

Cheers
~ND

oh great i keep this is mind when the moment comes still have 3 month supply or so.

According to wikipedia, the naked woman "had smoked marijuana laced with chemicals prior to this incident in addition to consuming kratom". So yeah, it must've been the kratom .

http://www.blueridgenow....0626/ARTICLES/130629846

My local head shop was one of the chains raided last week in a collaborative effort, headed by the DEA, to crack down on baths salts and synthetic cannabaniods (Project Synergy) in the article above, and they also took all the kratom off the shelves. They told the employee that they're just testing it to verify there's nothing else in it and they will be able to sell it again if it checks out, but still troubling for us kratom users...

One thing that comes to my mind is that Kratom is often used assist in tapering down from more heavy opioids. It is a next phase substances that helps people cope with the withdrawal symptoms.

One of the withdrawal symptoms of certain opioids can be paranoia, psychosis and even hallucinations. Often it is forgotten that a substance (or lack thereof) can have effects days after taking/not taking it anymore.

In this case it is possible that the person had severe withdrawal symptoms from other opioids that were taken days before and those symptoms included psychosis/hallucinations. If you are not aware of this you might point the finger at the wrong substance, in this case kratom that the person took to help cope with the physical withdrawal symptoms.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

i think it's more likely she took a kratom product from a head shop that contained something else. This has happened to me on one occasion years ago when i first started taking Kratom. I purchased 5 capsules of "super enhanced for more stimulation" kratom. I didnt sleep for two days. It was definatley something mixed in like an RC or somehting. On the otherhand certain stains of Kratom do have a marked stimulant quality to them, and under the wrong circumstances, and with a fragile mind i could see psychosis devolping with moderate use in some individuals that are perhaps prone to such mental states in the first place.

I'm sure the laced marijuana had a lot to with this particular incident though...