Kratom is a tropical tree growing from 15-50 feet tall; the leaves have been chewed, smoked, and orally injected for stimulant, sedative, and euphoric effects by people in Thailand and South Asia for centuries. The stimulating effects tend to predominate at low-dose levels, which may cause alertness, energy, and mild euphoria. People often use Kratom in low-dose levels when studying or trying to focus. Higher doses tend to be more tranquilizing, causing an opiate-like dreamy effect. High-dose levels are often used for sleeping, relaxing, or just plain recreational use(Erowid).
When taken in higher doses Kratom is said to create an opiate-like effect. So, Kratom is often times used for easing off of methamphetamine and opiates. This is interesting because it is one of the safest known alternatives to curing addiction; yet it is not a popular method for such uses in rehab centers. While Kratom has many positive effects, there are a few negative effects as well. These negative effects include: nausea, unwanted sedation, vivid waking dreams, mild depression during and/or after(to be researched further), increase in body temperature, and hangover similar to alcohol. Although Kratom has so many negative effects, it is also helpful in pain relief; especially joint and muscle pain(Erowid).
Brendan Kiley wrote an article about Kratom in 2012. According to Kiley, Kratom broke into the U.S. market about 5 years ago, and because it is not illegal people aren't killing each other for it. The DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) began warning people about Kratom in 2005. These warnings mention several cases of Kratom psychosis, where Kratom users exhibited psychotic symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, and confusions. Kiley stated in his article, "every few months, a new intoxicant that isn't technically covered by US drug-prohibition laws pops up on the market and policymakers, acting on very little information, freaks out over it". Due to the DEA's warnings and recent news stories on the subject, US Legislators are questioning whether or not to ban Kratom. The DEA's claims aren't based on thorough research, all they are seeing is the negative effects that seem to shine through more than the positive in some cases. The bottom line, according to Dr. Boyer's paper: "The natural history of Kratom use, including it's clinical pharmacology and toxicology, are poorly understood".
I believe that the DEA should perform more in-depth research before banning it completely. Although it has it's side effects, Kratom could be extremely beneficial to this country when it comes to treating addiction. Hopefully the DEA will come to the conclusion of keeping Kratom as a government controlled substance, rather than banning it entirely. Even if it were only legal for medical purposes. I believe Kratom can do a world of good for rehab centers and opiate addicts in America, we just have to get the DEA to see that.
Sources:
-Erowid.org
-"The Rush to Prohibit Kratom" by Brendan Kiley (TheStranger.com)
I agree they should do some more research on this drug Kratom. I feel like this is a drug that could do wonders in the medical field. The fact that it can cure muscular and joint pain is astounding. It kind of sounds like it has properties of other drugs like the recreational use, the use of them for focusing and relaxing and etc. It is like an all in one type drug. There would be many uses for it in the medical field for a fact. I can think of a couple of disorders that can be controlled with this one drug. I cannot help but wonder can you buy this in like stores or if it’s a prescription drug because you said it was not illegal. I am wondering if it is just like out there.
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderfully interesting information, but from a documentation standpoint I cannot tell which source you used for which text, nor can I tell whether the text was quoted or paraphrased. That can create problems of determining which parts of the text are your interpretations of the content and which are actually borrowed from your sources. So definitely update to make explicit...
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