February 1, 2016 – Kratom

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04 — 1.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Anchor lead: Should you try a supplement to ease heroin use? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Kratom is the street name for an herbal remedy for heroin addiction that’s just appeared on the radar of medical professionals.  That’s because while the supplement is legal, it is also associated with a host of side effects and may even be addictive on its own.  Eric Strain, a drug abuse expert at Johns Hopkins, comments.

Strain: There are these herbal products that people are trying as more natural remedies for their alcohol drinking or for their heroin use.  Perhaps not surprisingly they don’t work as well as one might expect. Kratom is one of those.  The thing is we don’t know what they contain. And they may be dangerous.  They may not be as natural and healthy as someone might think.  We need to be very careful about how they’re being used and whether they really are safe.   :30

Strain applauds efforts people undertake to get addictions under control but warns that so-called ‘natural’ products, such as the marijuana substitute spice or the diet aid ephedra, carry risks of their own.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.