Kratom has defenders even though its safety's questioned

 I promised myself I'd avoid these articles, and yet here I am, poised to respond to this. Knowing it may not be read. Knowing those that wrote this article might not check the comments. But there's always hope. I feel obligated to the West Coast kratom community to speak up for them and alongside them, because I would want for them to do the same for this side of Stars and Stripes Land.

First, my name is Richie. I hail from the City of Brotherly Love. Introductions are important, no? I have been actively, daily, taking kratom for almost five years. Yes, five years. And in those five years I have not experienced a single horrific side effect that would paint it as a danger to myself or to others. It has, as I've said to many people in my attempts to help them, given me back a large chunk of my life. That chunk I once tried filling in with other things which always left me intoxicated, numb, fearful, and so on. Kratom does nothing like that to me. Kratom is related to the coffee plant, and should be moreso compared to herbals like kava kava, ginseng, and even valerian. Kratom does not deserve the smearing that has been showing itself in recent articles. I have never hallucinated, I eat like any Irishman, I am very pale. None of the alleged side effects have ever shown themselves in my time with this herb, nor with anyone I've ever spoken or read that actively used it for purposes other than getting 'high.' I usually feel bad for people trying to get high on it because it would be such a disappointment and possibly a placebo. Unless it's laced, which is always possible where business is concerned because business is business. But kratom itself? Not a danger.

People will try to get 'high' on anything that makes that promise. Valerian, kava-kava, ginseng, even poppy seeds.We all know this. And yet we continue to think that banning a substance will stop the root of addiction, and when that substance has actually -helped- people escape addiction, then you're doing more harm than good. This article at least had a kind of objectivity to it, talking to people that use kratom for the benefits it brings to their lives. But then there's the other side - Lumping it into the same shelf as bath-salts is not only offensive to those of us that thought bath salts were used for baths, but it's also an offense to reason.

 So to those of you who wrote this, and to those of you reading, my advice is to try it for yourself. Anything sold in a smoke shop should be second guessed. I'd suggest you find a reputable place online. It won't make you climb walls or hang around naked outside with a baby and a hammer. It won't make you think you're Elvis. It won't reduce you to a shivering mass of pulp on the floor. They won't find your body with packets of kratom littering the area. The woman that apparently did take kratom had to have been on something else, or had preexisting conditions, because kratom does not do that. It's akin to saying that coffee can make you hallucinate. Of course, caffeine probably could do that, if you take enough of it.

Respectfully,

Richie.

there have been petitions to keep kratom 'alive 

kratom have NEVER KILLED ANYONE. PLEASE. ANYONE WITH A WORKING BRAIN,  REFRAIN FROM BELIEVING ANY OF THIS PROPAGANDA. kratom is very safe, and has been used for thousands of years with no reported deaths or Side Effects. the media, in a cookie cutter fashion, has been skewing any information and is flat out lying about the effects of kratom. please do your own research on the hundreds of thousands of people who have benefited greatly from this wonderful leaf. please don't let the media control your thought process. think for yourself. listen to the people who have refuted this garbage 'journalism' on forums, videos, THIS article, as well as the numerous other propaganda 'news stories'. this is the same tactics used in the reefer madness days. this is a miracle working plant, and that's an understatement. i would be a LEGAL oxycodone junkie (given to me after a serious car accident, and still hooked me after taking them according the directions) if it wasn't for kratom. this stuff is very benign. kratom would NEVER make anyone crazy or deceased. please think for yourself. the news isn't your friend. it isn't the truth. research.

'.

Oh my God, this is so ridiculous. I don't know whether or not I'm buying rat poison when I pick up a bottle of Tylenol. It's like reefer madness all over again. Do some research please.

Watch this! http://www.lef.org/lpages/WarOnHealth/index.htm?utm_source=INFEML_130206&utm_medium=email&utm_term=WarOnHealth&utm_content=LinkBody&utm_campaign=INB301E&sourcecode=INB301E

"In effect, there is no way to know whether you're buying rat poison in one batch and baby powder in the other." except that manufactures know you won't keep buying it if you get rat poison and baby powder. Marcia Richmond is the only one that was factual in this story

There is know reason to ban Kratom at all. It is as mild as coffee.

The reporter should have checked the facts before spreading misinformation. Prescription drugs and alcohol kill people every day. Nobody has ever died from taking mitragyna speciosa (kratom). I have personally used it daily for 5 years with the worst side effect being dry mouth. It does not cause hallucinations. If it did then it would cost more. You cannot overdose on it. The worst case scenario is that you get dizzy and maybe vomit.  Kratom is related to coffee botanically. It is not an opiate or a drug. It is a simple leaf from a tree.

For information about kratom, see http://www.kratomassociation.org

I've used Kratom daily for 6 years with ZERO side effects. There is NO PROOF that Kratom had anything to do with that woman's death. It is 100% baseless. Kratom, by itself,  has never been proven to kill anyone in recorded medical history.

Blaming Kratom only shows your own lack of knowledge of the issue. Kratom is used by tens of thousands of people in America as a safe and natural alternative to anti-depressants, pain killers, anti-anxiety and to improve health. 

Kratom is in the coffee family (That says a lot about how "deadly" it is) and is, in fact, milder than coffee in effects.

Never even heard of it lol.  But I stay away from anything that is remotely shady looking.  Bout the worst thing I do is Rockstars and I have even managed to cut most of them out.  But yeah... really I have nothing to say either way.

If this would have been normal kratom powder, which is not confirmed, it could never have been the cause of this behavior, even when taking in combination with MJ, it merely would make one very sleepy probably. But kratom is often used as a label to sell other substances, either mixed or blend with the kratom, similar to bathsalts, which might somehow have played a role here. I find it strange that kratom is mentioned as a possible cause, yet the victim had a medical condition, was obviously using several products in the same time and no medical report or conclusion has been published. I wonder if the same thing would have happened if this woman happened to drink ginger tea, or is it maybe that kratom is still not very well known and understood?  In any case, in Asia it has been used since the stone age already, and none of such events has been reported in all its history, so think again before stigmatizing a herb. Kratom has helped tens of thousands of folks to improve their lives, it deserves at least a bit of an objective view, not this kind of blind speculation.

If this gets banned then ban alcohol.

Ever since Kratom became popular in PDX, you will have notice the increased absence of heroin dealers on the streets. The plant does enter the opioid receptors of the brain and provides a gently euphoric feeling, and blocks the need for opioids with its concomitant criminal underworld of thefts and prostitution. As slothisbirddown comments here,  its use did get in the way of the heroin and opium trade dealers in Thailand, as it was used by addicts to get off their addiction. Switching to kratom for a few weeks allows for an exit for opiate addiction and thence off kratom easily without withdrawal horrors.

Additionally, kratom is a quick fix for the suicidal, in that taking six one capsules can lift a person completely out of such depression within hours, - and then, with no additional kratom ever, simply maintaining that "up" state with the open-source SRI, "St. John's Wort" - available from all grocery stores ( about two capsules). All of this is minimal cost of course.

But the greatest benefit of course is in the pain relief afforded by Kratom. Without interfering with clarity of thinking, alleviating pain of arthritis, injury and permanent damage much greater than any over the counter, super-addictive narcotics, its is very effective. Called a "republican drug" by many, it helps older workers in the fields to maintain their productivity of their better years.

There are pharmaceutical drugs aiming to sell their own extracts, which will require banning the raw material from which they derive their extracts. This is behind this media sprinkling of anecdotal tales which, when dissected reveal stories of unstable poly-drug users who have issues.

In Oregon, as we know, many of us have limited access to health-care. It is expensive. Our state health care is available on a lottery system. Kratom is something turned to by people who have no health care, or cannot find relief from ailmentrs within its its expensive cost structures. KATU should explore its story further, and try it for themselves without the scare stories which might reveal some hope for people who currently have no hope.

It's nice to see a somewhat balanced article on this. The last couple on Koin and KGW were very sensationalistic and very uninformed. Like I've said,  do not misjudge this plant. The reason they banned Kratom in Thailand is not because it's a 'problem' with the people who use it. It is very easy to get off of compared to almost any addictive substance including alcohol and cigarettes. The problem it had in Thailand in 1943 (when it was banned) is it was getting in the way of the opium trade there; people were using it to get off of opium so they (the druglords & government) got it banned there because it was interfering with their bottom line (source : http://www.kratomassociation.org/news/legal-news-and-developments/117-kratom-banned-in-thailand-1943-but-do-you-know-why ). Because it grows wild there, there is little to no cost in producing it so obviously they took steps to make it illegal. It is part of a plant that is the same family as the coffee tree...you know, the most consumed plant in the world? It's effects are different than that of coffee but I have heard it getting people off of pills, heroin, and other addictions. Blaming it for any deaths is shortsighted. It is physically impossible to overdose on Kratom, unlike all the bath salts that were sold. I think every time one of these new 'crazes' comes up in the news no one stops to evaluate what it is on it's own, we just judge it based on previous other substances, in this case, bath salts, etc. Sadly. I don't ever take the stuff myself, but every once in a while I will suggest it to someone who is having problems with either pain or addiction or alcoholism, and it works wonders with them. I sincerely hope we do not make yet ANOTHER beneficial plant illegal because of our ignorance and mistreatment of it.

Once again, another misleading, uninformed article about kratom. Please, don't confuse kratom with synthetic cannabis (also known as spice or K2) which is what this woman seemed to be smoking. Kratom is not a synthetic drug, is a natural plant in the same family as coffee. Kratom is most commonly ingested as a tea, never smoked, smoking kratom would be comparable to smoking chamomile tea, just absurd. Kratom users don't get high, most of them are people like me, I'm a 63 year old responsible adult who had a terrible car accident a few years ago, and take kratom to overcome a severe opiate addiction caused by legal prescription medicines (somehow this legal prescription drugs that kill thousands of people a year never make the news...). 

Please wake up and realize what is happening here. These incidents were not attributable to Kratom, In the incident where the woman died a pipe was found next to her? Kratom is not smoked! The ffects would be so little no one would bother. In the incident of the woman with the hammer? Can you say crazy person? I have used kratom 3 years off and on and have never had but mild relief of pain and anxiety from it. 

This is like when reefer madness came out in the 50s. Devil weed. Wake up people we are adults, we do not need to criminalize another group of people in this society, many of whom have used kratom to defeat addiction to pain killers. 

Ok...the comment "I don't feel any different after I use it than before" refers to getting a high off it. For me, there is no high .

Sounds dangerous only when abused and miss used.

If it's not Food or Water it most likely is BAD for you. Getting high can make you die.