I would like to address some of the issues that arise when speaking of a plant known as Kratom (Mytragyna Speciosa). I, personally, have been a user of this fine plant for over a year now, and therefore have much experience in all aspects, good and bad, of this plant and its uses.
First off I would like to address its effects. Kratom can be taken in multiple forms including, tea, the toss and wash method (toss the plant material in some type of liquid and wash it down quickly), capsules, and extracts. I always preferred the toss and wash method, as it was the easiest and least time consuming, although it does taste mildly bitter. A normal dose for most people, including myself, ranges from 3 to 5 grams, with a threshold of effects coming on around 2 grams. At this dosage, within 30 minutes a mild stimulation comes over the body, much like a small dose of caffeine for someone who does not use caffeine regularly. This stimulation continues for approximately an hour as the opioid effects begin to develop, as this plant contains alkaloids that act on the opioid receptors in the brain. This opioid feeling is quite mild as well at this dosage, and can be compared to a small dose of codeine. Note that I use the word “compared”. This feeling is comparative because of the action on the opioid receptors, but it is not exactly like codeine. It does have painkilling abilities, but lacks many of the side effects that come from using traditional opiates and opioids. After a year of using this plant daily, I have seen no ill side effects except for the mild addiction potential. Yes, just like any other psychoactive material that we, as humans, consume daily, it has an addiction potential. This potential is not nearly as high as for pharmaceutical drugs such as hydrocodone or oxycodone, but it is still present, and therefore should be used wisely and be respected. I have had blood tests and other tests done for myself to check and make sure that Kratom was not harming me in any manner, and so far everything is healthy and normal. Just this alone makes Kratom a better choice than any pharmaceutical drug these companies can offer. And even though I have done much research about this plant, I know that I can only speak for myself, but this plant is more useful than anything I have tried before. It has the stimulation you may want to wake up in the morning or get some work done, it has the painkilling effects that millions of people need, and it brings about a sense of well-being and moderate euphoria that can make any day a good one. I do not advocate daily use for everyone as too much of anything can be bad, but I am writing this in hopes that many people can become educated on this substance from a truthful, first-hand experience instead of the bullshit that the media and fear-mongering pharmaceutical companies will try to put out there.
The truth is, the pharmaceutical companies do not want anything to take their profits away, and if a relatively harmless plant can do the same job, if not a better one, than the opiates and opioids they are trying to sell, then they will do everything in their power to stop people from using it. This includes fear mongering and using the media to put false information out there to scare people. In Oklahoma, a Fox-affiliate news station stated this about kratom, “Users say it’s the legal form of heroin, with hallucinogenic effects of LSD.” ( motherboard.vice.com/read/how-the-internet-turned-kratom-a-medical-plant-into-an-oxy-adderall-lovechild )This is WILDLY inaccurate, as there have never been reports of hallucinations from kratom alone and it is no-where near as potent as heroin or even oxycodone. Even at high doses of kratom, the effects are more similar to that of hydrocodone, which is maybe 1% as strong as most heroin. I just want to thoroughly prove my point that pharmaceutical companies will do anything to get kratom out of the hands of their customers, and that the public should be educated on this plant as it has been around for millennia. Its original use has been dated back to Thailand thousands of years ago, and its first documented use was recorded in the late 1800’s. The only way to die from kratom would be to either mix it with something else that is much more harmful, or to eat so much of it that your body cannot handle the amount of material you have put into your stomach. I am not saying that this plant is perfect, or that it has no ill effects, but the ill effects are basically just the possibility of addiction after extended use. And although the withdrawals experience from kratom are much more mild than oxycodone withdrawals, an addiction is still not a good thing for anyone. And although kratom itself has an addiction potential, it has been used numerous times to aid heroin and oxycodone addicts through their withdrawals, and from what I have researched, using kratom for withdrawals from much harder opioids/opiates works very well for many people as it staves off the cravings and lessens the withdrawal symptoms sometimes entirely. The only people who will tell you that Kratom does not have any medical uses are the people tied to the pharmaceutical companies or other uneducated people who get their info from fear-mongering media.
Nonetheless, I hope that anyone reading this will choose to educate themselves on this very useful plant, and gather the facts so that they may make their own opinion about it. For I am worried that as Kratom gains more popularity in the United States, it will come under attack very quickly. The DEA and FDA already know about Kratom and may very well stick their nose in our private lives again and make it illegal.
PS: (There is a lot of info about Kratom that I have not addressed in this short article. With my experience, I could probably write a whole book on this stuff, but I just do not have the time. So please, educate yourself.)
First off I would like to address its effects. Kratom can be taken in multiple forms including, tea, the toss and wash method (toss the plant material in some type of liquid and wash it down quickly), capsules, and extracts. I always preferred the toss and wash method, as it was the easiest and least time consuming, although it does taste mildly bitter. A normal dose for most people, including myself, ranges from 3 to 5 grams, with a threshold of effects coming on around 2 grams. At this dosage, within 30 minutes a mild stimulation comes over the body, much like a small dose of caffeine for someone who does not use caffeine regularly. This stimulation continues for approximately an hour as the opioid effects begin to develop, as this plant contains alkaloids that act on the opioid receptors in the brain. This opioid feeling is quite mild as well at this dosage, and can be compared to a small dose of codeine. Note that I use the word “compared”. This feeling is comparative because of the action on the opioid receptors, but it is not exactly like codeine. It does have painkilling abilities, but lacks many of the side effects that come from using traditional opiates and opioids. After a year of using this plant daily, I have seen no ill side effects except for the mild addiction potential. Yes, just like any other psychoactive material that we, as humans, consume daily, it has an addiction potential. This potential is not nearly as high as for pharmaceutical drugs such as hydrocodone or oxycodone, but it is still present, and therefore should be used wisely and be respected. I have had blood tests and other tests done for myself to check and make sure that Kratom was not harming me in any manner, and so far everything is healthy and normal. Just this alone makes Kratom a better choice than any pharmaceutical drug these companies can offer. And even though I have done much research about this plant, I know that I can only speak for myself, but this plant is more useful than anything I have tried before. It has the stimulation you may want to wake up in the morning or get some work done, it has the painkilling effects that millions of people need, and it brings about a sense of well-being and moderate euphoria that can make any day a good one. I do not advocate daily use for everyone as too much of anything can be bad, but I am writing this in hopes that many people can become educated on this substance from a truthful, first-hand experience instead of the bullshit that the media and fear-mongering pharmaceutical companies will try to put out there.
The truth is, the pharmaceutical companies do not want anything to take their profits away, and if a relatively harmless plant can do the same job, if not a better one, than the opiates and opioids they are trying to sell, then they will do everything in their power to stop people from using it. This includes fear mongering and using the media to put false information out there to scare people. In Oklahoma, a Fox-affiliate news station stated this about kratom, “Users say it’s the legal form of heroin, with hallucinogenic effects of LSD.” ( motherboard.vice.com/read/how-the-internet-turned-kratom-a-medical-plant-into-an-oxy-adderall-lovechild )This is WILDLY inaccurate, as there have never been reports of hallucinations from kratom alone and it is no-where near as potent as heroin or even oxycodone. Even at high doses of kratom, the effects are more similar to that of hydrocodone, which is maybe 1% as strong as most heroin. I just want to thoroughly prove my point that pharmaceutical companies will do anything to get kratom out of the hands of their customers, and that the public should be educated on this plant as it has been around for millennia. Its original use has been dated back to Thailand thousands of years ago, and its first documented use was recorded in the late 1800’s. The only way to die from kratom would be to either mix it with something else that is much more harmful, or to eat so much of it that your body cannot handle the amount of material you have put into your stomach. I am not saying that this plant is perfect, or that it has no ill effects, but the ill effects are basically just the possibility of addiction after extended use. And although the withdrawals experience from kratom are much more mild than oxycodone withdrawals, an addiction is still not a good thing for anyone. And although kratom itself has an addiction potential, it has been used numerous times to aid heroin and oxycodone addicts through their withdrawals, and from what I have researched, using kratom for withdrawals from much harder opioids/opiates works very well for many people as it staves off the cravings and lessens the withdrawal symptoms sometimes entirely. The only people who will tell you that Kratom does not have any medical uses are the people tied to the pharmaceutical companies or other uneducated people who get their info from fear-mongering media.
Nonetheless, I hope that anyone reading this will choose to educate themselves on this very useful plant, and gather the facts so that they may make their own opinion about it. For I am worried that as Kratom gains more popularity in the United States, it will come under attack very quickly. The DEA and FDA already know about Kratom and may very well stick their nose in our private lives again and make it illegal.
PS: (There is a lot of info about Kratom that I have not addressed in this short article. With my experience, I could probably write a whole book on this stuff, but I just do not have the time. So please, educate yourself.)
