Quote:
Originally Posted by ToNMfromNJ
My son is addicted to Kratom. He said it happened very quickly because he was using the tinctures and the withdrawal is as ugly as opiate withdrawal. He tells me every few weeks that he is going to just cold turkey but it has now been 6 months. I believe he will have to go into rehab in order to kick this addiction.
I am a child of the 60s and have had exposure to the drug culture so I am in no way naive about it or a lover of the DEA and Big Pharma. This is a serious substance that is highly addictive and the video of the young lady above is not an exaggeration.
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Sorry to hear about your son but FYI, getting off Kratom is far easier than getting off opiates. It just involves tapering and some willpower. Unfortunately (and reputable distributors are realizing this too late) Kratom, as a plain leaf is about as addictive as coffee. The big mistake came when people started concentrating the leaf into potent tinctures and extracts. Most people find them to be cost prohibitive and avoid serious addiction because at that point - heroin is vastly cheaper. There are many Kratom forums out there with dozens of threads on how to kick Kratom for those who have gone over the line. The community takes care of their own and in the process it's starting to address the issue of concentrates. It's unfortunate because they have their uses, when used wisely and sparingly.
I'm sort of surprised that no one has tried to create a caffeine extract........it's effects would be about the same addiction wise. It happens with every drug to come down the pike. In the 80's people figured out how to purify their cut cocaine so they could smoke it as freebase, From heroin, Krokodil sprang it's ugly head and now people are turning simple old marijuana into something much more potent by using butane extraction of THC and concocting "shatter"
There's always going to be a fringe element intent on taking things to the next level (often for monetary gain) and abusing what nature created as a perfectly usable, safe ethnobotanical by concentrating, extracting, distilling or otherwise monkeying with what nature has given us.
Again.........it's too bad about your son but that's no reason to vilify an herb that's still helping tens of thousands who use it responsibly. My wife and I have been using Kratom for over 7 years now, with breaks now and then, for a variety of ailments. I use it for pain control rather than opiates and it's made a huge difference in my quality of life. My wife used it after doctors tried to turn her into a zombie with anti-anxiety meds after the death of our twins. It's also an auto immune booster.....but you won't hear that in the media hysteria. In the last 7 years, neither one of us has had as much as a sniffle. It's also lowered my blood pressure so I don't have to take some kind of pharmaceutical that gives me migraines and has a dozen other "possible " side effects.
So, because your son went down a stupid path, everybody out there who uses this plant responsibly has to suffer? That's like saying, my kid was in a car accident because has was doing 110, lost control, crashed and ended up paralyzed so I want cars banned or cars that go faster than 40 mph banned. Even after 7 years of 3-4 x a week use, both my wife and myself could quit Kratom with the same amount of discomfort associated with caffeine withdrawal........but frankly I don't want to because then I'd be at the mercies of the medical establishment once again with my destroyed back.
If you wish, you can PM me and I'll direct you to some great Kratom resources that can help with your son's problem but
please don't lump him in with the vast number of us who use the leaf responsibly. I for one, like to have the option of saying NO to the big pharmaceutical companies because I have natural alternatives.
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