DOSE:

15 g

oral

Kratom

(ground / crushed)

BODY WEIGHT:

11.5 st

I was addicted for 2 years to dihydrocodeine, codeine and morphine. These drugs are actually very easy to get hold of here in the UK as I could stroll into any pharmacist and get them over-the-counter. For example, they can be bought as painkillers (i.e DHC or codeine plus paracetemol) and then extracted or they can be purchased in the form of an anti-diarrhea medicine (i.e morphine anhydrous and peppermint oil) and glugged from the bottle in one go to achieve a moderate opiate buzz.

Anyway, it was getting a bit tiresome (and expensive) going to pharmacies every 2-3 days and stocking up on opiates. It was also bothering me that I was being recognised by some pharmacists and denied my drugs of choice (in the UK it's legal to buy these drugs but only at the dispenser's discretion - if they think you're addicted they stop selling to you). I didn't feel like being listed as a 'legal junkie' so I turned to Kratom, something I'd tried at the same time as I was just getting into opiates. I remembered it was a similar buzz to codeine/DHC but slightly different, perhaps more stimulating before tailing off into a traditional light opiate buzz.

Well, thanks to this substance I've been able to cease almost entirely with the OTC opiates. Maybe once every 3 months I'll revisit opiate-land but my desire for them has been curbed substantially. I can't thank this drug enough as my opiate addiction was getting out of hand and increasingly difficult to control. It was worrying me that it would become public knowledge that I had a problem because people I knew worked in the pharmacies and wouldn't take long to put 2 and 2 together as I was running out of excuses for taking these opiate medications. Because of Kratom I've been able to deal privately with my issues and am now working on moving down from 15-20g a day of powdered kratom leaf.

The only worry I have is that in light of the recent clampdown on legal highs in the UK (Mephedrone etc) kratom will be next. I can only hope that the government realises that people can use this substance intelligently to beat more serious addictions. I know of people who have been addicted to Heroin and placed on Methadone maintenance. Quitting Methadone for them turned out to be even worse than H. Thankfully Kratom was there to wean them off the dreaded green liquid and has been highly recommended to those determined to beat a habit.

All in all, Kratom has a lot going for it. As far as I know an overdose will only make you ill and won't kill you and it's a great alternative medication for quitting real opiates. Obviously it has potential to be abused itself as a recreational drug but I can only hope people will respect the substance and not draw negative attention to it and get it banned.

Peace.

Exp Year: 2010	ExpID: 85301
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 25
Published: Oct 10, 2017	Views: 1,292
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Kratom (203) : Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), Retrospective / Summary (11), Not Applicable (38)