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Topics: Drugs, Health, UK News, Crime, World News
Britt Jones
After a rise in deaths related to ‘gas station heroin’, experts and users have shared their warnings about the plant.
There have been many drugs that have taken over the streets in the UK, like spice, and badly cut powders that can send a person to the ER from an overdose.
But one plant is now easier to access than ever, despite heavy regulations and laws surrounding its use. That plant is called kratom.
Kratom is a plant which is considered to be part of the coffee family, which is grown in South-East Asia. It’s frequently used by people to self-treat things like anxiety, depression, opioid misuse or withdrawal symptoms.
The herbal extract from the evergreen tree called Mitragyna speciosa can be chewed in the form of its leaves, ground to powders and taken as a supplement. It can also be added to a liquid for consumption.
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At low doses, kratom acts as an upper, called a stimulant.
But at high doses...that’s where things can become catastrophic for users and their families, as it has physiologic effects similar to opioids.
As of right now, kratom is illegal in the UK.
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While it was available for purchase before 2016, the Psychoactive Substances Act banned kratom alongside other substances considered to alter mental states.
This means that you can’t buy, possess, or import kratom in the UK or other countries like Australia and Sweden, which introduced similar restrictions. However, people can still find ways to buy from different countries, and imported in (illegally).
Recently, the UK government issued a clamp down on synthetic opioids being sold on the streets of the UK.
Of course, while gas station heroin isn’t a true opioid, it does target the same brain area and provides similar feelings and addictive properties.
Policing Minister Chris Philp said of the 2023 plan: “Synthetic opioids are highly dangerous substances, which ruin lives and devastate communities.
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“We must stop these lethal drugs from reaching our streets, to prevent more tragic deaths and other harmful consequences of addiction, from violent crime to antisocial behaviour.
“Drugs like these erode our society and we accept the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs’ recommendations, to bring proper penalties on their supply.”
The dangers of taking it can vary, but unfortunately, at its worst- it can cause death.
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At low doses, the effect is subtle, and can improve moods, but when taken in large dose, it can trigger euphoria, a major stimulation, making dependence on the drug.
Those who are chasing its high might take levels of the drug at far higher doses than the body can handle, leading to catastrophic consequences.
For a number of families, they have seen those consequences up close and personal, and now they are left to grieve their loved ones.
Kratom has been blamed for a string of deaths in the US, where it is legally sold as powders, pills, in drinks and energy shots you can buy easily. Some samples of those products have also been found to contain synthetic cannabinoids and other drugs, meaning that users don’t always know what they are consuming.
Matthew Eller passed away at the age of just 22, after his mother noticed empty packets lying around in his room.
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“I had no idea he was using kratom, nor did I know what it was,” Susan, Matthew’s mum, 59, told The Sun.
“When he moved out of my house in 2020, I found empty kratom packets with price stickers of over $20 on them, which explained why he was always broke despite having a good job.
“He said he used kratom for energy, and said it’s like coffee. I looked it up online, but at that time, it was almost all positive information. Matthew nor I had any idea it could kill him.
"My son’s toxicology reports show he died from kratom alone - no other substances nor underlying health conditions.”
Mum-of-three Raylee Reinhart also used the drug, to take as a safe alternative to booze. However, she began to get addicted, and was soon spending £2,000 per month on up to 10 shots a day.
As a result, her hands turned numb, her hair fell out, and she lost two stone.
“My boyfriend would say, ‘Every time you get out of the shower, there’s a huge clump of hair in the drain,’” she told The Sun. “And it got worse. I lost more than half of my hair.”
Mitragynine is one of the two main psychoactive ingredients found in kratom leaves (the other being 7-Hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH).
At high doses, it can reportedly cause seizures, psychosis, liver damage, and difficulty breathing, or death.
According to the US’s DEA, it can also cause ‘nausea, itching, sweating, dry mouth, constipation, increased urination, tachycardia, vomiting, drowsiness, and loss of appetite’. It warned: “Users of kratom have also experienced anorexia, weight loss, insomnia, hepatotoxicity, seizure, and hallucinations.”
Shockingly, it is in the UK as a cache of 52kg was uncovered at Edinburgh Airport, and 102kg of it was seized at East Midlands Airport, by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Police Scotland probe.
At the time, NCA Scotland operations manager, John McGowan, called it a ‘dangerous drug’, and said authorities are working to keep the streets clean of it.
Doctor Giuseppe Aragona, a GP who has previously worked in Britain, tells us there have been some UK-based cases of “kratom-related health incidents”, including deaths.
“Patients arriving at hospitals with kratom toxicity typically present with acute symptoms such as severe nausea, persistent vomiting, and a rapid heart rate,” he says.
In the US, Dr Aragona, Chief Medical Advisor at Prescription Doctor, adds: “Emergency departments are reporting a rise in such cases as kratom use becomes common.”