(Translation into most languages at tab to the right.)
It’s a new year around the world. Most developed and industrialized nations have similar hopes and concerns. Yet when one travels outside of the USA, we find some striking differences in how other leading countries in the world govern themselves. This is obvious in one particular area – when it comes to what substances are legal, allowed, or illegal.
Kratom is a good example. It is a Thai traditional medicine. The plant is in the coffee family and when used traditionally – i.e., chewed or dried for tea – it can produce mild stimulant or sedative-like effects. (1) But in the last decade, people driven by greed and profit (it is a billion-dollar industry), have once again figured out how to chemically super-charge the derivatives in Kratom in order to create a market with a highly addictive substance in the guise of a “natural” product sold at convenience stores and gas stations in all but six states in the USA. These concentrated derivatives contain 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), a powerful psychoactive compound that occurs naturally in tiny amounts in kratom. 7-OH affects the same receptors in the brain as morphine and heroin – thus, the same effects that people seek in those drugs. And in these new potencies, kratom has the same strong potential for addiction.
Continue reading “KRATOM: Another monkey on your back?”
Opiate Nation 