In very small amounts this can give relief for people with certain chronic pain, depression, and anxiety. It is not been studied well so it should be used with caution.Be very careful where you purchase this product. Make sure  you buy it from  approved state to sell it. Check with your state to see if it is legal to bring into your state. People are misusing it and dying from overdoses. The DEA wanted to make it a drug and ban it. Congress asked them to delay because they want more feed back from the consumer. 

The first thing I thought when I read about this is "oh no not another one." There are three ways to consume it.  Chewing on leaves ,  taking in pills and smoking it.  THe most common way outside of Asia is to take it by pill form.  Even though there may be some positive benefits from taking kratom, enough is not known about it at this time.  People who have experienced positive side effects from it claim it gives them energy, helps with pain and even increased libido.  Those who have experienced negative side effects claim it did nothing for pain, decreased energy, and decreased libido as well.  So clearly it shouldn't be allowed until more research is done,  Especially in a climate where everyone's so prone to addiction and so many people are looking for the next recreational drug or quick fix.  Its very available online unfortrunately and it seems its already easy to purchase.  

I've never heard of it.  It sounds like something that may be marketed as alternative medicine like other supplements and "herbal" remedies.  There was one herbal weight loss remedy years ago that was very popular called afedra (not sure of the spelling) that many people took for weight loss or more energy when working out at the gym.  It was eventually banned because people taking it began to die of heart attacks.  When you take any supplement that is not FDA approved or tested you never really know what you are taking.

There are contradicting reports for kratom usefulness. Some users say it has helped with anxiety, depression and pain, some said it caused withdrawals after everyday use. FDA is concerned that kratom might have properties that expose users to dependence, abuse and addiction. Its banned in certain states.        

Virginia, I do remember the Ephedra products years ago. It was also used in diet pills. People took too much and having heart attacks. Like any other herb or natural product I think Kratom needs to be studied and people need to be aware that too much can have possible bad outcomes. 

I believe Kratom can be very addictive and shouldn't be used. I've seen it cause agitation when not taking it. It can have with drawl symptoms. I've heard it feels like herion which is obviously not a good thing. Some people are using it to stop smoking marijuana when addicted, which can just go from one addiction to another. There are different types that can be used for different things. 

Kratom's original use was as a stimulant in Southeast Asia. The leaves were chewed or made into a tea in order to energize laborers. Currently, when used it is not coming directly from the leaves but in dried, processed or other forms. This is the first problem. Supplements are not regulated in the USA other than they cannot make medical claims. Company labeling always uses the ambiguous term "May help with x,y,z". When choosing to utilize a supplement the consumer needs to be well educated, understand sourcing, and be aware of the lack of quality control for a large majority of supplement makers. This means that one cannot be sure what fillers are used, the potency of the herb, or even if the advertised dose is correct (may contain a lot more or less).

Kratom has both an opioid and psychostimulant effect. I have to wonder why large portions of our population feel the need to self medicate. While there are medicinal uses for this herbal there are better pharmacology options with fewer side effects. 

I feel the real reason for its current popularity is that it is available without a prescription. It also is being used recreationally. The population at large equates herbals = not dangerous. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4657101/

The problem is that the FDA does not test supplements/herbals for effectiveness or safety. The guidelines only cover what the manufacturer can claim, ingredients, and listing of harmful side effects

https://www.fda.gov/food/dietary-supplements

This is a test post. 

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I looked up some information and couldn't find anything that said this drug was good, most of it was saying that it has these adverse side effects, including hallucinations and can induce psychosis, damage your vital organs, cause cellular, neuromuscular damage, memory impairment and can cause death if combined with other drugs. The only thing that looked like there could be some potential was from ncbi saying that there is an alkaloid extract taken from kratom called mitragynine and then a derivative from that called mitraphylline which could potentially help with opiate addiction but there hasn't been enough research on this and the data is just inconclusive. When people are looking for alternative drugs or methods to help people come off of strong chemical dependencies they have to experiment with different sources like these to find something better. There isn't much that is known about kratom and needs more experimenting and testing in a controlled lab setting to really see if there is a solution in it.