Before coming to school in Tampa, I had never heard of Kratom. After being introduced after a friend’s birthday, it is now hard to miss all the shops, lining the streets of Downtown Tampa and Ybor, which bear a close resemblance to coffee shops. In fact, a lot of these shops do sell both kratom tea as well as coffee. The best way to describe a kava bar, in my own experience, would be a more tripped out coffee house. Less house music, more riot grrrl and EDM.
Kratom is traditionally used in Southeast Asia as an herbal supplement to relieve aches and pains. Other benefits include mood enhancement and increased energy. The herb stems from the evergreen tree that is found in these areas and is then harvested, dried, and put into either tea or pills as different methods of consumption.
In low doses, Kratom is known to cause more of a stimulant effect but in higher doses, its effects bear closer resemblance to the effects of opioids because the chemical makeup enables the drug to bind to the same chemical receptors that opioids do. For this reason, many people who are in the process of getting clean from opioids turn to kratom as a lesser form of the feeling.
Negative effects of kratom include increased sensitivity to sunburn, nausea, sweating, dry mouth, constipation, increased urination, and loss of appetite. Kratom has yet to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration which leaves it’s true status as a “safer” alternative up in the air. An online survey conducted in 2014 found that of the over 8,000 people surveyed, an overwhelming majority of people who take kratom in the United States are middle-aged, middle-income people dealing with pain on a daily basis. A significant number also mentioned using it to quit opioid drugs or help with the withdrawal symptoms.
Because of these overwhelming beneficial responses, and because of my own experience, I am swayed to say that although kratom is not approved by the FDA, it is able to provide some help, mentally and physically, to people that the negative effects don’t fully outweigh. Of course, only in limited moderation and like any other substance, a mental dependency can be created.