- Kratom, sometimes referred to as “gas station heroin,” is an herb with opioid- and stimulant-like effects.
- It can be fatal in very high doses but is not subject to much federal regulation.
- So states and cities have been banning kratom sales or enacting rules and restrictions.
Thank you for that disclaimer. I had to babysit a friend while they went through an accelerated detox for kratom, it was ugly. I’ve babysat friends detoxing off heroin so I thought this would be ezpz, but it was honestly just as shitty a time as heroin detox. This was someone who had increased consumption to about 2-3 heaping teaspoons at least twice a day over 8 years or so.
Edit - After reading some of the other comments i want to clarify that I have no concern about overdose deaths from kratom whatsoever. My only concern is that I’ve seen multiple people get absolutely addicted to kratom, and the fact that anyone, of any age, can walk in to basically any store and buy this stuff with no idea of the addictive potential of it is concerning to me. I’d personally probably be happy with a ban on sale to minors and mandated harm reduction material printed on the packaging.
It’s odd how some people experience withdrawals and others don’t. I’ve gone cold turkey several times and didn’t have a bad time at all. Maybe a runny nose and some sleepiness, and that’s it.
I agree it should not be sold to minors and that it should include harm-reduction info. We do it for alcohol and tobacco, after all.
Based on your original comment, I think a lot of it had to do with the volume of daily usage, not just daily usage in and of itself.
I should have mentioned my previous usage. At at one point I was using up to three level teapoons a day, which would amount to about 7 & 1/2 gpd. I didn’t do that for very long, as I wasn’t in extreme physical pain.