How did the current situation with kratom develop? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:08 — 1.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Many substances marketed as ‘supplements’ enjoy a lack of oversight and regulation, among them kratom, a plant based extract from Asia. While some users report pain relief and mood improvement there are no studies to support this, and as Eric Strain, a substance use disorders expert at Johns Hopkins recounts, once an active ingredient is identified the race to create synthetics is on.

Strain: I would stay away from kratom because I don't know what it is. Just like I would stay away from a lot of other products that might be sold on the Internet as something and we don't know if they truly are what they say they are. What we're seeing is plant based products that have abuse potential, that then some aspect of them morphs into a chemically based product. So heroin which is related to opium morphing into fentanyl or carfentanyl.       :29

Strain notes that the synthetics are uniformly stronger than the original with greater abuse and addiction potential. Overdose also becomes more likely. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.