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Before the opioid epidemic became a public health crisis, multiple warning signs were misread or dismissed.

Tragically, a strikingly similar pattern seems to be emerging with kratom.

Kratom's main compound is an opioid that activates the same brain receptors as heroin and opioid painkillers.

The easy accessibility of kratom means the prevalence opioid use disorder is likely to keep increasing.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." —George Santayana

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." —George Santayana

Long before the opioid epidemic became a full-on public health crisis in the U.S., there were multiple warning signs that were misread, minimized, and dismissed. Tragically, a similar phenomenon seems to be emerging with kratom.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s an unusual intersection of well-intentioned pain specialists and rapacious pharmaceutical companies combined to help create a body of scientific research that served to allay the traditional concerns about the addictive potential of prescription opioids. This involved a handful of small studies that purported to demonstrate the risks posed by opioids—including addiction—were minimal. That research was uncritically accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as by certain U.S. medical journals.

In response, state medical boards loosened their opioid prescribing standards, and the use of opioids was expanded to the treatment of a wide variety of chronic pain conditions. [1] This effectively precipitated the U.S. opioid epidemic, which led to the reemergence of much more widespread heroin use and the proliferation of synthesized fentanyl.

What Is Kratom and How Does It Relate to Other Opioids?

Kratom is the common term both for the dried leaves of the Mitragyna speciosa tree, native to Southeast........

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