Is Kratom Legal? Exploring the Risks of New Herbal Stimulants

Kratom is an herbal supplement that comes from the Mitragyna speciosa tree that grows in Indonesia, Thailand, Mayasia, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea. In these countries, Ian Lecklitner writes, “farmers and indigenous people have used the plant for hundreds of years as both a boost to increase work efficiency (low to moderate doses of kratom serve as a stimulant) and also at the end of the day to wind down (higher doses serve as a sedative.)” Additionally, kratom is purported to reduce pain. These qualities have brought the traditional Southeast Asian drug to the United States, where it is sold in head shops, health food stores, and online. It has gained a loyal following of users who say they derive a variety of significant benefits.

One of those people is Andrea, a 26-year-old recovering heroin addict. Hailing from a cozy, affluent New England town, Andrea’s addiction emerged following a horseback riding accident that left her with a broken collarbone and an Oxycodone prescription in her freshman year of college. Today, she credits her recovery to rehab, Suboxone, a fierce will to regain control of her life …. and kratom. “Kratom isn’t like heroin,” she says. “But it helps those cravings go away. Not by replicating the experience of being high, but by alleviating some of the darkness. It helps me feel better.” Today, she uses the drug when she feels the slightest pull toward relapse and also to cope with menstrual cramps.

Andrea’s experience isn’t unique; kratom has become known to many in the recovery community as a source of relief from active opioid withdrawal. “I don’t take it every day,” says one user, a recovering alcoholic who uses kratom to alleviate the depression and anxiety that persisted after he quit drinking. “I’ll take it, jump in the shower, eat something, drink coffee, and head into my 12-hour shift. I never feel high. I just see things clearer.”

While those who purport therapeutic benefit from kratom typically insist that they do not get high from the substance, kratom’s ability to produce a high is the primary allure for others. According to an analysis of user reports submitted to Erowid, a website that catalogs recreational drug experiences, the most prominent feature of kratom use is intense euphoria, particularly at high doses. “Kratom seems to create a pleasant, mellow, and happy effect,” writes one user. “Body relaxation and mental calm” was reported by another. As Marc Swogger, author of the analysis, states, ”Numerous individuals described this effect as similar to that of opiates.”

Swogger’s analysis is important because, with a lack of empirical research into the recreational effects of kratom on users looking to get high, we are left to rely on individual user anecdotes. These reports lend us insight into trends regarding how people are using the drug, what they are experiencing while on the drug, and what happens when they discontinue using. Significantly, about 10% of users experience “problems with withdrawal after nonuse.” This suggests a potential for dependency, despite the much-touted non-addictive nature of kratom. Additionally, nearly 10% of users were using kratom “as a substitute for other drugs, mostly opioids.” This is significant because using a substance to ease withdrawal symptoms or to fight off depression in recovery is one thing; using a substance as a direct substitute for a dangerous drug in the pursuit of getting high, however, carries with it very different implications.

Kratom is currently legal in the United States (as of this writing). However, whether people are using kratom to fortify recovery or as a direct replacement for opioids, the connection between kratom and opioids is strong, and this is what currently threatens kratom’s legal status. Earlier this year, an announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claimed that kratom has “opioid properties,” which may explain the ease with which kratom can replace opioids for some. According to the FDA, these opioid properties were evidenced by a “computational model developed by agency scientists” and used to support the argument that kratom has “potential for abuse, addiction, and serious health consequences, including death.”

The FDA statement is significant in demonstrates an intensification of the FDA’s interest in kratom and its potential dangers. But the FDA isn’t the only agency that wanting to restrict kratom sale and use. In 2016, the DEA announced that it would be classifying the active ingredients in kratom as Schedule I controlled substances to “avoid an imminent hazard to public safety” due to its “ability to produce opioid-like effects.” This announcement was met with such fierce resistance that the DEA eventually backed down, leaving kratom’s legal status intact. But the agency didn’t lose interest in kratom; rather, they asked the FDA to investigate the substance further, a project the FDA has since taken up.

Not everyone is convinced by the comparison of kratom to opioids, however. For instance, Jack E. Henningfield, a former National Institute on Drug Abuse addiction expert, points out that while kratom may bind to opioid receptors, it doesn’t carry the same risks as more dangerous opioid drugs. Its chemistry and biological effects are different, including an inability to produce the respiratory depression of traditional opioids. Henningfield believes that the FDA’s computational model does not take these differences into account, and that it therefore paints an unrealistic picture of potential danger.

Rather than viewing kratom as a looming peril, Henningfield and many others see it as a promising treatment in the fight against opioid addiction. “Kratom has helped many Americans get off of harmful, addictive opioids [and] manage pain, and its applications and uses should be further studied and developed—not banned,” says Jared Polis, a congressman from Colorado. Polis was one of the signatories of a bipartisan letter to the head of the FDA last fall, when the agency issued a public health advisory about the risks of kratom. The letter claimed that the “’beneficial potential, safety, and efficacy of kratom has been discussed, studied, clinically researched, and found to be the same as coffee’ according to studies funded by the National Institute of Health.”