What's The Latest With Kratom?

What's The Latest With Kratom?

What insights can experts and survivors share about addiction? Here, emergency physician and addiction specialist Dr Casey Grover takes a deep dive into kratom, breaking it down in a way that busy clinicians, counsellors, and curious laypeople can actually use. The episode lays out what kratom is, how it works in the body, and why the phrase “it’s just a plant” is so misleading.

Dr Grover compares its mixed effects to a fictional combo drug, jokingly naming it “methoxyclonoprofen” because kratom can act like a stimulant, an opioid, a calming medication, and an anti-inflammatory all at once. He stresses that, at higher doses and in concentrated forms, the opioid-like effects dominate and dependence becomes a real problem.

You’ll hear how kratom is marketed in smoke shops and online with claims of “relaxing, euphoric” or “get up and go activation”, while warning labels quietly skip over addiction and withdrawal. Dr Grover’s secret-shopper story in a Monterey smoke shop makes this point with some dark humour, especially when the staff can’t answer basic questions about risks.

The episode is aimed mainly at therapists, drug and alcohol counsellors, and acute care clinicians, but anyone using kratom or worried about a loved one will recognise the two groups he describes: “opioid sophisticated” users who use kratom strategically, and the “I just want to feel better” users who never planned on having an opioid problem.

Treatment options are set out clearly, from slow tapers and comfort medications through to buprenorphine or methadone, and even long-acting injectable buprenorphine to step people off opioids without significant withdrawal. A patient story of a high-functioning 40-year-old who went from unsuspecting kratom use to full recovery underlines the message: “Treating addiction saves lives.” Keen to understand how something sold next to vape pens can behave like a powerful opioid and what practical help looks like in 2026?