Despite negative news reports from a media that too often defaults to fear and propaganda in bowing to the altar of sensationalism, the average adult understands that the issue of drugs is a nuanced issue. Outlawing substances does not help with public health problems and never will, and we see evidence of this in our history and in our current reality.
In an interview with Democracy Now!, Columbia University neuropsychopharmacologist Dr. Carl Hart said
80 to 90 percent of the people who actually use drugs like crack cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana—80 to 90 percent of those people were not addicted. I thought, “Wait a second. I thought that once you use these drugs, everyone becomes addicted, and that’s why we had these problems.” That was one thing that I found out. Another thing that I found out is that if you provide alternatives to people—jobs, other sort of alternatives—they don’t overindulge in drugs like this…
People get addicted for a wide range of reasons. Some people have co-occurring or other psychiatric illnesses that contribute to their drug addiction. Other people get addicted because that’s the best option available to them, other people because they had limited skills in terms of responsibility skills. People become addicted for a wide range of reasons. If we were really concerned about drug addiction, we would be trying to figure out precisely why each individual became addicted. But that’s not what we’re really interested in. We are interested, in this society, of vilifying a drug. In that way, we don’t have to deal with the complex issues for why people really become addicted.
— Carl Hart, Democracy Now! 1/6/2014
Vilifying and banning substances has never been about saving people from addiction. It’s always been about exercising power and control over a population.
Here are more stories that represent the vast majority of user experiences with kratom.
I have found that red Bali is the best for my pain management and its effects are stimulating while energetic. I have to take 4-5 grams to be at a pain free or close to it level and be able to carry on with my day without feeling too sleepy which is very unlike any opiate I have ever been prescribed. I was taking pain meds for over 3 years and decided to go the natural way to find remedies to help me cope with my day to day life as a mom and the recovery was terribly hard. Then I found kratom and I can live life again and be the mom I want to be for my kids. I have tried red mengda, red hulu, gold bali and trainwreck and non of those top 4 grams of red Bali. Wish you all the best of luck!
Mercedes
I also am proof that you absolutely CAN just quit and use kratom with zero withdrawal symptoms.. I had been opiate dependent for about 13 years and on suboxone for 7 of those years. I had tried to quit many times but failed before finding the kratom plant!!! I was taking 8 mg a day of suboxone and was able to finally succeed in my quest to stop taking it… KRATOM saved my life and allowed me to find my soul and have a relationship with my father once again.
Janice
I’ve been taking kratom for about 6 years daily. Capsules and tea and a variety of strains. I was out this whole week up until today. I had zero withdrawals.
“Free the Leaf”
Personally, I was on opiates for 8 years, had withdrawal a few times, so I know what it’s like. I tried a couple different kinds to find the one best for my spinal arthritis and ended up on Super Green malaysian. FOR ME, it was the most opiate-like strain and I was amazed at how it killed withdrawal AND pain (better than opiates on the pain front). I’ve used it for 5 years now, no dosage or tolerance increase and it’s made my life MUCH better. Just order a small quantity or a sample pack of different strains (almost every store has one or two) and find the one that works best. Start dosage on the low side and work up…if you get dizzy and sick to your stomach, you took too much. Took me about a month to get my dose right but smooth sailing ever since. I wish you the best of luck and hope this helps.
Cory
I was taking suboxone for 2 and a half years and prior to that opiates for 3 years. My fiancée told me about kratom and that I should give it a try to get off of suboxone and I have to say the kratom did help extremely with suboxone withdrawals, but I still had mild withdrawals from the suboxone. I definitely recommend giving kratom a try and getting yourself off of methadone. Trust me I was paying $600 for 60 suboxone strips, but I decreased myself down to 2 strips a day to a little sliver.
Amy
I am bipolar and get terrifying hallucinations that are induced by stress. The meds that I am on work fine for reducing the frequency of episodes, but when I do have them kratom is a lifesaver! My psychiatrist is completely on board with me using it, and I may even be able to stop taking the klonopins I am prescribed for anxiety related to the hallucinations. If you are reading this and also experience psychotic episodes, give it a try. Start with small doses. Everyone is different but for me this really works and I feel like I can live a normal life again.
Sophie
I too was on long term pain management when the DEA cut pain meds and sent our nation into this “crisis”. They pegged my a junkie too when I failed my piss test. I went from over 300 pills and 4 medications a month to 60 pills of one medication. I was accused of selling my pills and cut off cold turkey. I was lucky and did not have withdrawals, that is something that runs in my family and is very rare. By all rights I should be an addict. I went and got honey bee venom injections. THEY ARE AMAZING I walked into the office with a cane walked out without it! Within 3 weeks I did a cartwheel. That was in 2012. Last year I had another back surgery and I use kratom occasionally. I now get injured very easily was in the ER every 6 weeks. Now kratom keeps me from going to the hospital when I have a nasty flair up. It is all about money and it makes me sick.
Andrea
I just discovered kratom in February of this year. It has helped my Fibromyalgia symptoms better than any medication doctors have given me over the past 7 years. If the FDA really cared about our safety and well being, they would run tests to prove or disprove the claims. Not simply say the claims are false and work to ban it. It just doesn’t fit their agenda. That’s sad.
Sabrina
I was on the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT CVN- 71 and we were the first to deploy September 18th 2001. In very sorry for you injuries and pain. I was an Aviation Ordnance 3rd class petty officer. I worked on the flight deck checking all aircraft weapons. We dropped a lot of ordnance on Afghanistan for 7 months straight. I was glad to fight for our country but very glad to get back home safe afterwards. I too love Kratom though. Its keeping me away from the negative junk. Methadone is no joke and the withdrawal lingers for sometimes even 2 weeks if not more. I think Kratom is wonderful because when using it i don’t even think of heroin, pain pills, nor even alcohol.
Daryl
I was on oxycodone and dilaudid for 10 years and when I tried coming off of them, I thought I was dying. So I went from oxycodone and dilaudid to Kratom, and then I stopped taking the kratom one day and I’m feeling fine. it’s been 8 days and maybe a little headache but that’s it! Oh and don’t be rude!!!
Sherish 5/19/18