Kratom Science

Mr. Boston, who chooses to remain anonymous, was pushed out of a tree at the age of 13 where he got a slipped disk and went on a regimen of gradually stronger and stronger opioids. Living with chronic pain, he later developed an even more painful autoimmune disorder, which he says feels like being attacked … 60. Mr. Boston on Surviving 3 Near Death Experiences, Chronic Pain, and Multiple Scl...

Dr. Lance McMahon is Chair of the Department of Pharmacodynamics at University of Florida College of Pharmacy, a college that has been at the forefront of kratom research. Dr. McMahon studies the mechanism of action of the multiple kratom alkaloids and how they function alone and in concert on our various brain receptors. His lab … 59. Dr. Lance McMahon, Chair of University of Florida Colleg...

Dr. Jonathan Cachat and host Brian Gallagher look at a case report of a supposed kratom-induced psychosis out of a student team from West Virginia University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, advised by MDs Alexander Muacevic and John R Adler. A 43 year old man combat veteran with six tours of duty, traumatic brain … Journal Club #24: Kratom-Induced Psychosis? A Case Report Read M...

Maia Szalavitz is a journalist and New York Times bestselling author who has written about drugs, addiction, and neuroscience for 30 years. Today she talks with host Brian Gallagher about her new book, Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction, why drug policy has failed, how policy based on … 58. New York Times Bestselling Author Maia Szalavitz on harm re...

Transcript available here https://www.kratomscience.com/2021/08/12/transcript-of-kratom-science-podcast-57-representatives-of-pphi-indonesian-farmers-co-op/ This episode is a result of an interview I conducted with members of the Horticulture Entrepreneurship Association of Indonesia (PPHI). Brian speaks to Mr. Fadli Ashari, translator for Mr. Suhairi Ery, Daily Chairman of PPHI and Mr. Jamaluddin...

Please comment by August 9, 2021 to tell HHS/WHO to please keep kratom legal worldwide. Politely share your kratom story here, make sure you get a confirmation email and tracking number, and under “What are you commenting about?” Select “International Government – I0037” https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/07/23/2021-15685/international-drug-scheduling-conv...

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/07/23/2021-15685/international-drug-scheduling-convention-on-psychotropic-substances-single-convention-on-narcotic?fbclid=IwAR1jTz7JSte491H5eTQBwjrivN4Y60s1t-kIPc1iy9UvnjfY2kkwHNFuBvM PUBLIC COMMENTS OPEN UNTIL AUGUST 9. This is a wonderful opportunity to enter your kratom story in the public record in the United States. Using the link above, your com...

Amanda Marie is a farmer and construction worker living in New Mexico. She had been severely injured due to a skating accident when she was 13, and later a car accident for which she developed lifelong chronic pain. She went on to develop Fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, and had a heart attack before she was diagnosed … 56. Injuries, Pain, Cancer, Heart Attack, Endometriosis, Suicide Attemp...

Dr. Kirsten Smith is a post-doc fellow at National Institute on Drug Abuse. With a background in social work and working with communities with substance use disorder, Dr. Smith was instrumental in introducing kratom research to NIDA’s Intramural Research Program, where she works in the in the Real-world Assessment, Prediction, and Treatment Unit. Dr. Smith … 55. Dr. Kirsten Smith of Na...

Neuroscientist Dr. Jon Cachat and host Brian Gallagher look at a study from University of Science in Malaysia that studies kratom extracts using various solvents: water, methanol, ethanol, and ethyl acetate. The technique they use, accelerated solvent extracting, uses less time and a lower amount of solvent for a safer and more environmentally friendly extraction … Journal Club #22: Accelera...

Jaclyn O’Shea has such a rich story that we couldn’t possibly tell it all in this short conversation. She is a United States Army veteran who served two tours in the War in Afghanistan. Her husband fought in Iraq in the Battle of Fallujah. He became one of several veterans in that battle who suffered … 54. Afghanistan War Veteran Jaclyn O’Shea on surviving war, her husband&...

Study examined in this episode: Smith, K. E., Bunting, A. M., Walker, R., Hall, M. T., Grundmann, O., & Castillo, O. (2019). Non-Prescribed Buprenorphine Use Mediates the Relationship between Heroin Use and Kratom Use among a Sample of Polysubstance Users. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 51(4), 311–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2019.1597224Pubmed link https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/309...

Nick Wing is currently editor of the nonprofit journal The Appeal (theappeal.org). He spent nearly 10 years as a journalist for Huffington Post, where he did extensive in-depth reporting on kratom, starting in 2016. In the course of his work, Nick Wing discovered that one of FDA’s “kratom-related deaths” was a man who died of … 53. Journalist Nick Wing on Covering Kratom Re...

A new study from Thailand (La-up, 2021) found traditional users of kratom had elevated levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or “good” cholesterol) and low levels of triglycerides. In the largest recent study of its kind, researchers recruited 581 participants, half kratom consumers, and half who did not consume kratom as a control group. Though the … Journal Club #20: Cholesterol Study on...

You may have seen HBO’s documentary The Crime of the Century about pharmaceutical companies influencing doctors to prescribe an abundance of pain medication. But there’s another story that may make for a sequel. CDC guidelines combined with DEA threats to doctors are now leaving chronic pain patients without the access to opioid pain medication that … 52. The Other Crime of the C...

Neuroscientist Dr. Jonathan Cachat and host Brian Gallagher look at the blistering report by Jane Babin released in August 2018: “FDA Fails to Follow the Science on Kratom” (PDF available here https://t.co/G76TVsWdLY?amp=1 ). Babin demonstrates how FDA manipulated data to create a Schedule I justification based on what a former HHS Assistant Secretary of Health … Journal Club #19...

David Oakley is a stand up comedian from Atlanta. Previously addicted to heroin, Dave discovered kratom and it changed his life. He became active in kratom advocacy and attended the historic protest in Washington, DC in 2016 that helped keep kratom legal. Later, Dave began a career in stand-up comedy and moved to the small … 51. Heroin, Kratom, and Comedy with David Oakley Read More »

In a departure from kratom science, Dr. Cachat and Brian look at a paper by a pioneering pharmacologist and researcher in the field of psychedelics, Dr. David E. Nichols. Dr. Nichols methodically lays out his case for why endogenous DMT produced in the pineal gland, brain, or other parts of the human body is not … Journal Club #18: Pineal Gland and DMT Facts and Myth Read More »

Brian welcomes Julia Brose, graduate student at Michigan State University and lead author of the study “The Mitragyna speciosa (Kratom) Genome: A resource for data-mining potent pharmaceuticals that impact human health”. She’s joined by Dr. Robin Buell, MSU Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, who co-authored the study. We talk about the Rubiaceae family of plants, … 5...

The subject of episode 17 of Kratom Science Journal Club Dr. Jon Cachat and Brian Gallagher talk about an article from Portuguese scientists about “new” psychoactive substances of natural origin, some of which have been consumed responsibly for centuries, some of which are best used if you want to murder someone via poisoning them. Oh, … Journal Club #17: Psychoactive plants in y...

Shane Mauss is a stand up comedian who has appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Joe Rogan Experience, WTF with Marc Maron, Comedy Central, The Green Room with Paul Provenza, and Getting Doug with High, just to name a few. For the past 7 years he’s interviewed scientists on a … 49. Comedian Shane Mauss Talks Science Podcasting and Kratom Read More »

Take the new anonymous kratom survey! tinyurl.com/kratomteasurvey Hamilton Morris, creator of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, and producer Soren Shade talk to University of Florida scientist and past Kratom Science Podcast guest Dr. Oliver Grundmann about his new anonymous research survey on kratom tea. All kratom consumers are invited to participate. Plus, how an overly positive kratom narrative &...

Andrew Tait from Vancouver BC Canada got his PhD in chemistry at the University of British Columbia and founded Tait Labs in 2011. He studied traditional Chinese medicine and “realized a need to apply scientific rigor to traditional medicines in order prove their potency, safety and efficacy in the treatment of a wide range of … 48. Plant Medicine from Food Waste with Andrew Tait Read...

Soren Shade grew up in the woods of West Virginia. Through a program for low-income, high-achieving students, he studied philosophy at Columbia University in New York. In his senior year he worked research assistant for Hamilton Morris and ended up as a producer on Season 3 of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, released earlier this year. Soren is … 47. Take it as a Tea with Hamilton’s Pha...

Another study from University of Florida is the “first report that has simultaneously evaluated the systemic exposure of 11 kratom alkaloids following the administration of traditional and commercial kratom products” (Kamble, 2021). Researchers looked at the pharmacokinectics (how drugs move through the body and are metabolized) of alkaloids in rat plasma following the oral administration …...