[tw: longpost] These R-slurs are Gonna Get Kratom Banned

Like many savvy drugchads, I use kratom a few times a week in lieu of drinking. I find it works very well for this purpose, and my weekly alcohol consumption is far lower than it used to be. For the uninitiated kratom is a plant native to Southeast Asia that produces mild opiate-like effects when ingested, and is at the moment federally unregulated. As far as I know it cannot be converted into an injectable or insufflatable form which limits its abuse potential, though it does have non-zero addiction liability. The last time I picked up some kratom capsules from my friendly neighborhood head shop, I was offered a free sample of a kava+kratom combination supplement drink. I have only tried kava once previously many years ago so I thought what the heck, might as well. Kava is some kind of "sociability enhancement" plant extract from the South Pacific that I don't know a whole lot about, other than that it is generally considered non-addictive (unlike kratom). It was a Botanic Tonics "Feel Free" 2oz shot. The label does not break down doses per drug beyond 2600mg of "proprietary blend" per 1oz serving.

I found this odd enough to warrant googling the product before consuming it, and I found I was not alone in my concern about the vague label. Much more worryingly, nearly every long term user report on this product claims it is ludicrously addictive.

This post is probably the most extensive,though there are others I will omit for brevity: https://old.reddit.com/r/kavakava/comments/t5wxtx/any_personal_thoughtsexperience_with_botanic/

Dozens of reddit comment chains detailing 10+ bottle/day dependence (so, what, 50g+ of kratom effective dose? ) and comparisons to heroin. Consumption of kratom in quantities this extreme is normally difficult-to-impossible to achieve with traditional powdered plant kratom; you'll vomit before you get anywhere near that amount. Unlike kratom by itself*, kava is immediately dangerous to consume in excess quantities on a regular basis so there are reports of addicts experiencing liver and skin problems as a result. Amidst the flailing and lamenting and speculation about unlisted dangerous additives, some blame users and addicts for not doing enough research on kratom before getting hooked on this supplement chalking all of the dramatic reports up to normal kratom effects. More on this later.

*still a bad idea, this is pretty deep into addict territory even if it won't necessarily hospitalize you on its own so long as you don't have a metabolic disorder

Someone created a support group sub for addicts just a few days ago: https://old.reddit.com/r/Quittingfeelfree/

The support sub is pretty amateur-hour, but contains some additional key information. Users claim it has been marketed to young adults and college students as an alcohol alternative (fair enough, a lot of people use kratom for this purpose including myself), often by social media (((influencer))) types. Their website also lists some official(?) endorsements from some pretty big name schools. Users claim its availability is not limited to smoke shops, and that it can be found at 7-11s nationwide (any millennial dramanauts remember k2 and how that ended up working out? ). User photos reveal that the label/formula has changed at least once, from 3500mg down to 2600mg. The product entered the market right around a year ago, and the company behind it has had comments on their social media profiles disabled for an unknown length of time.

Most critically: none of the marketing for this product mentions that it contains kratom. It is marketed as a kava-only supplement. Normies are buying this stuff without knowing about the kratom content, much less what kratom is and how to use it safely, and then being surprised that it is habit-forming. The only reference to kratom in any of their officially published content is the ingredients list label on the bottles and the screenshot of the same label on their website FAQ. Their website (which I won't link but is easily googleable) offers subscription services for the stuff, indicating they know darn well what they're doing. I would not have guessed that it contained any kratom when observing it on the store shelf, and I would have avoided it under the assumption that it was a snake oil supplement if not for the smoke shop employee explaining that it contains kratom.

I have to give these guys credit for pulling off a Juul-tier heist so far. Exploitation of unregulated addictive substances on this scale is not easy to pull off. The bottles retail for $10 each. The problem is that this will inevitably result in a blanket ban on kratom when someone at the NYT catches wind and writes a thinkpiece on how teh poor (college-aged) childwenz are getting hooked on this evil dwug.

I took half of the bottle while writing this, and other than taking effect a lot faster than I'm used to (~10 minutes vs 30-45+ minutes depending on my stomach contents) it feels pretty much exactly like normal kratom. IIRC shorter onset times correlate with greater addiction liability, so that may explain some of the hysteria over this. I dunno. All I do know is I'm gonna be really frickin buttmad when this inevitably results in a federal ban.