Kratom is a relatively new drug to hit the market of the U.S and Europe recently. Kratom has been used as an anti-diarrheal medicine, painkiller and recreational drug in many Southeast Asian countries. The kratom means the tree, but the drug is from the leaves of the tree.
This drug can be bought in many different forms, either in raw leaves or in capsules. In the West, it is mainly purchased as a pill having a powdered form of the leaf or finely chopped up which can be used for smoking or consumed in tea. Most patients tend to ingest the drug. The effects of the drug can be experienced immediately after consumption last anywhere between five to seven hours. Higher doses can induce more extended hours of effect.
Kratom has a secure grip on the market. This is because it is heavily publicized as it is legal, undetectable and labeled as a safe drug used to come off stronger drugs. In the U.S, kratom is legal, and due to this legality clause, the drug tends to be more circulated among the younger crowds as they are not old enough to buy alcohol and risk of being arrested with weed or other drugs.
Recently, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime has categorized kratom into a newly defined class of drugs known as new psychoactive substances. Kratom is on the list along with khat, salvia divinorum, synthetic ketamine, mephedrone, and other hard drugs. Unfortunately, many of these powerful drugs are not illegal in the nation of the U.S and Europe, despite their proven dangerous and addictive properties.
In the U.S there have been calls here and then to poison control centers regarding kratom sending people to the emergency room. Even when a drug sends people to the emergency room, it takes time to compile facts and figures and scientific information to establish a legislative ban on it. Majority of the adverse effects of this drug has been felt by the nations of Thailand, Myanmar, and Malaysia where it is heavily used. Thailand has recently legislated a ban against kratom.
