Mycophile- I wasn't referring to using kratom itself, but rather the extracts we were discussing. I'd recommend trying both UEI / Full Spectrum Tincture (I haven't mentioned this one before, because, coming from the same people who make UEI and the oxindole enhanced extract, it is identical to UEI, just as a tincture) at least a few times, while they're still available. Eventually they're gonna be talked about the way people talk about phenmetrazine, quaaludes and ketobemidone- something incredible that'll just one day disappear. It isn't something that will appear on the black market- its general lack of potency and the fact that you've gotta eat a gross tasting powder has prevented these extracts from achieving more widespread popularity- thank God- or it'd have disappeared already.
Can a person use kratom recreationally a couple days a week without ultimately developing an addiction? I would think so, but it is playing roulette, especially if you were already addicted to benzos. Were you really addicted to them, though, or were you just physically dependent on them? They're not at all the same thing. Were you using more than prescribed? Buying them illegally? Would you go through a month's worth in a few days? A relative became addicted to diazepam and would go through his 90 x 10mg / month supply in about a week and buy more online. Was fine until he chewed through his backup stash and then his order got seized.
You may well be able to maintain using kratom like that, it is pretty mild. I've been addicted to opiates for a very long time now, and yet I have no problem controlling my use of prescribed amphetamine, just take my prescribed dose, exactly as prescribed, every day. I never found stimulants enjoyable, just very functional.
I suspect that if you use kratom recreationally on a regular basis like you have been, you'll eventually develop a habit, and always want to use it in certain circumstances. For me, taking opiates and laying down, kind of meditating while enjoying the 'mind movies' they produce, was an association that I find very hard to break- it's hard to sleep without first taking an opioid. I think it'd have been easier to break if I had associated it with another activity, one I can more easily stop. I always hold my suboxone under my tongue for an hour, and I've come to associate watching different television programs while taking it- I mean, I actually have fond memories of holding a sub under my tongue and watching Dr. Who and GoT and pretty much every other series on HBO and Showtime, lol.
I wish you luck, as ultimately you'll do whatever you want to do, but personally, knowing what I know now, I would experience many different things and then just stop experimenting. I wish I had stopped using opioids after trying pods a few dozen times or after the first couple times using dope. Instead I got a prescription and made it a daily thing.