The Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Nora Volkow, was the keynote speaker for this year’s Scientific Kratom Symposium. Hosted by the University of Florida College of Pharmacy at its Lake Nona research campus, the four-day event held from February 17-20, 2026, brought together roughly 100 scientists from about a dozen countries …
Fifth Scientific Kratom Symposium Held in Florida Read More »
A case series published recently in the Journal of Addiction examined 14 American patients of Community Medical Services, a healthcare company specializing in the medically assisted treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). The patients were diagnosed with Kratom Use Disorder (KUD) (Sherrick, 2026). The very brief report does not get into specifics about kratom product …
Kratom Use Disorder Treatment with Methadone an Ongoing Practice Read More »
Disclaimer This is an article summarizing a study on kratom consumers from Thailand, who use the traditional method of fresh leaf kratom brewed into a tea. This is not how most people consume kratom in the United States and Europe. Though the alkaloid composition varies from fresh to dried leaf kratom, the closest method to …
Study: Traditional Kratom Use Not Associated with Blood, Organ Toxicity Read More »
Mitraphylline is an oxindole alkaloid, made mostly of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. It’s found in kratom at trace amounts (less than 1% of the total alkaloid makeup of kratom leaf). Cat’s Claw contains much more of the alkaloid: 1 gram of dried cat’s claw bark might contain 0.5 to 3 milligrams of mitraphylline. Research …
Scientists Discover How Plants Make Mitraphylline Read More »
Note: There is a correlation between kratom and seizures, but causation has not been established. Kratom alone or kratom combined with other substances could very well cause seizures in some consumers, but as this study shows, there is not enough evidence to determine causation. Seizures have been commonly listed as a side effect of kratom …
Scientists find “insufficient evidence to suggest that kratom causes seizures” Read More »
Scientists from British Columbia Institute of Technology and University of Illinois published a study that examines five 7-hydroxymitragynine (the abbreviation 7-OH has become popularized, but the scientists use 7-HMG in this study) products marketed as “kratom extracts”. A kratom extract is a concentrated form of the kratom plant made by extracting its active alkaloids, of …
Scientists Test 7-OH Products Marketed as ‘Kratom Extracts’ Read More »
A new study published in Frontiers in Plant Science is presenting a clearer picture of how post-harvest processing changes the plant’s chemistry. The researchers from University of Florida and Oregon State University compared kratom varieties grown in Hawaii and Malaysia to see how factors like withering time, drying temperature, and harvest season influence alkaloid profiles—particularly …
Important to note: This does NOT mean severe health risks from kratom alone do not exist. There is a toxic amount of any substance that can be ingested, including kratom. The majority, but not all, of toxic adverse events associated with kratom have involved other substances, as well as substance misuse in general. Kratom should …
Review Finds Insufficient Evidence of Severe Health Risks From Kratom Alone Read More »
The kratom industry is railing against 7-OH products as problematic, but are extra-strength kratom extracts problematic too? The controversy surrounding the rise of new 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) products has sparked a debate among various players in the kratom industry, as well as scientists and consumers. A debate called “The 7-OH Fault Line” took place at the …
Members of the American Kratom Association (AKA) and the Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust (HART) will debate the controversial alkaloid 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and the 7-OH-abundant products that have become available to consumers in the past 2 years. Billed as “The 7-OH Fault Line”, the debate will take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center 3150 Paradise …
AKA and HART Face Off Over 7-Hydroxymitragynine This Friday Read More »