kratom

House Appropriations Committee bill HR4502 could direct HHS to Keep Kratom Legal

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On July 20, the House Committee on Appropriations released summaries of seven appropriations bills for fiscal year 2022, which runs from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. One of the bills, HR4502 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill, includes a report, 117-96, that includes language that would direct the …

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Combining traditional plant medicine with modern medical technology

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A pharmacologist today may regard traditional and plant medicine as primitive, and may entirely disregard thousands of years of use and thousands of modern-day testimonies of positive outcomes because it has not been through the rigors of hard science. On the other hand, the massive spread of anti-science misinformation has cast sometimes unreasonable doubt on …

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A list of baseless claims that kratom causes hallucinations

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In October 2018 we covered a sensationalist news story out of Florida where the director of a for-profit rehabilitation center claimed that kratom caused hallucinations (Scripps Media, 2018). Multiple news stories, press releases by government agencies, and even peer-reviewed published studies have made this claim, all without a shred of hard evidence. The most comprehensive …

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Cleveland Clinic uses O-desmethyltramadol overdoses to support its claim that “kratom has even caused death”

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Cleveland Clinic is one of the highest ranking and most reputable hospital systems in the United States. The nonprofit established in 1921 (Happy Anniversary!) serves over 7 million patients per year, houses the top cardiology program in the nation, and has international campuses in Canada, the UK, and the United Arab Emirates. The Cleveland Clinic …

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Journal Club #22: Accelerated Solvent Extracts of Kratom

Journal Club with Dr. Jonathan Cachat
Journal Club with Dr. Jonathan Cachat
Journal Club #22: Accelerated Solvent Extracts of Kratom
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Neuroscientist Dr. Jon Cachat and host Brian Gallagher look at a study from University of Science in Malaysia that studies kratom extracts using various solvents: water, methanol, ethanol, and ethyl acetate. The technique they use, accelerated solvent extracting, uses less time and a lower amount of solvent for a safer and more environmentally friendly extraction …

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54. Afghanistan War Veteran Jaclyn O’Shea on surviving war, her husband’s suicide, and PTSD

Kratom Science Podcast
Kratom Science Podcast
54. Afghanistan War Veteran Jaclyn O'Shea on surviving war, her husband's suicide, and PTSD
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Jaclyn O’Shea has such a rich story that we couldn’t possibly tell it all in this short conversation. She is a United States Army veteran who served two tours in the War in Afghanistan. Her husband fought in Iraq in the Battle of Fallujah. He became one of several veterans in that battle who suffered …

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Let’s look at the Oregon Kratom Consumer Protection Act

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On June 26, Oregon’s state senate passed HB2646, the Oregon Kratom Consumer Protection Act. Governor Kate Brown is expected to sign this bill into law, making Oregon the 6th state to place regulations on kratom vendors to hopefully ensure adult access to pure, uncontaminated kratom. Like other KCPAs, this bill places an age restriction on …

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Journal Club #21: Heroin to Buprenorphine to Kratom in Appalachia

Journal Club with Dr. Jonathan Cachat
Journal Club with Dr. Jonathan Cachat
Journal Club #21: Heroin to Buprenorphine to Kratom in Appalachia
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Study examined in this episode: Smith, K. E., Bunting, A. M., Walker, R., Hall, M. T., Grundmann, O., & Castillo, O. (2019). Non-Prescribed Buprenorphine Use Mediates the Relationship between Heroin Use and Kratom Use among a Sample of Polysubstance Users. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 51(4), 311–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2019.1597224Pubmed link https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30961450/ Link to all studies covered on …

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What’s causing hair loss, a rare side effect in kratom consumers?

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So far, no scientific evidence has been found linking kratom and hair loss, but it seems from several online forums that a very small percentage of American consumers are experiencing this bizarre side effect. Many also report that after discontinuing kratom, their hair grows back. What could be the cause? I could find virtually no …

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53. Journalist Nick Wing on Covering Kratom

Kratom Science Podcast
Kratom Science Podcast
53. Journalist Nick Wing on Covering Kratom
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Nick Wing is currently editor of the nonprofit journal The Appeal (theappeal.org). He spent nearly 10 years as a journalist for Huffington Post, where he did extensive in-depth reporting on kratom, starting in 2016. In the course of his work, Nick Wing discovered that one of FDA’s “kratom-related deaths” was a man who died of …

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