What is kratom?
What is kratom? In short, Kratom (mytragyna speciosa) plant within the coffee family. This plant contains several active alkaloids. The most abundant psychoactive in the plant naturally is mytragynine. Mytragynine is a opioid-receptor agonist much like commonly known prescription pain killers or heroin (opiates). However, there are many things that distinguish Kratom from other opiates in the subjective experience with using this drug.
The leaves are commonly dried and then powdered. People will consume Kratom either as a tea or in capsuled form. Doses range, with no opiate tolerance 2-4 grams is great for alleviating pain while 7 grams would be considered a high “recreational” dose. It also can be consumed as an mytragynine extract, potency of the extract would vary the dosage.
What are the effects of consuming the kratom drug?
The effects of Kratom are very similar to that of other opiates with a somewhat more stimulating side. For those who’ve never taken opiates the effects may include:
- A sense of well being
- Itchiness
- Increased energy
- Decreased appetite
- Empathy
- Reduction of anxiety
- Irritability
- Heightened libido
- Drowsiness
- Pain reduction (analgesia)
How is Kratom different from other opiates?
Kratom is far more benign than prescribed opiates. This is due to the effects of the drug, essentially Kratom is impossible to overdose on unless combined with another CNS depressant (downer drug). This is because at high doses you get extremely sick from Kratom. There’s intense amounts of vertigo, dizzyness, and nausea. Long before you take enough Kratom to overdose you would be puking your guts out. This makes it physically nearly impossible to overdose on Kratom. This isn’t the case with heroin or prescribed opiates where you can overdose on the drug itself.
People who are prescribed opiates for moderate to severe pain tend to feel a “chemical sickness” with daily use of their prescription which leads to depression. Once they switch over to Kratom as their new medication for daily pain, they instantly feel better. The constant chemical hangover is removed as soon as the transition is made.
What are some of the dangers?
The primary danger of Kratom is developing a psychological or physical dependency on the drug. As with anything that causes a sense of well being (euphoria) there’s always potential for addiction. Kratom can be physically addictive meaning some people experience physical withdrawal with horrific symptoms after abstaining from daily use. However, this varies. Some people will use Kratom daily with no physical withdrawal when they quit. With other opiates, a severe withdrawal is guaranteed for all of the population after daily usage.
What are the medicinal properties of kratom?
Kratom is great for alleviating pain. It’s currently legal in certain states within the U.S. and throughout most of the world. It’s by far the most effective treatment for pain that is legally accessible to adults. It’s far more effective than tylenol and doesn’t cause damage to the liver.
It’s also great rapidly taper off of harder opiates including prescription medications and heroin. It can essentially act as a stepping stone off of a physical opiate addiction. Since the withdrawals from other opiates is far worse than Kratom can ever be, people will use Kratom to soften the withdrawals and then come off of Kratom. This is far more effective than suboxone and methadone which have worse withdrawals than even heroin.
I hope this helped answer “what is kratom?” Check out the embedded video for a video explanation by the author!
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Philip Markoff (Associate of Science) is an online influencer and thought leader on addiction education; he is known as his alias “CG Kid” who’s obtained a large audience primarily on YouTube as a vlogger and journalist. His current sobriety date from polysubstance chemical dependency is June 9th, 2013.
Angela says
Kratom is a mysterious and magical herb with psychoactive consequences. Certain effects can differ from stimulation to relaxation depending on the person as well as the strain. kratom used as an anti-depressant as it can have euphoric and mood enhance qualities. Effect of kratom is depend on amount of dosage taken by an individual. Even I take kratom to maintain my sugar level as I suffering from diabetes. Rather side effects of Kratom are relatively mild and are never serious. These typically include loss of appetite, upset stomach, mild headache, increased thirst, and drowsiness. Look at a number of people taking it in high doses and the lack of serious repercussions