Synthetic kratom is exploding in California | Hacker News Reader

Synthetic kratom is exploding in California

sfgate.com

31 pointstqi9 comments

Kratom is banned in Canada. We should at a minimum place it on the schedule list and have it only be prescribed. It's sad that these days all we can think to do with drugs is have them fully commercially legal or completely banned.

How does a product like this make it to the market? Is this article overstating the danger, or did everyone involved (scientists, product folks, marketing folks, executives) just ignore it?

Drugs are good business, especially if the ones you're peddling are legal (at least gray area) and you're detached from the street dealing.

Something being highly addictive is also a nice plus. For them. Not the poor victims who get hooked and their lives upended.

It makes it to market because the US Congress is effectively nonexistent. They can't pass a bill, even a simple budget bill. The government is literally shut down.

States can also act, and in many ways it's wiser to start there first for many things

I started taking it and within 6 months I was at $100/day habit just to not feel terrible. I was also experiencing pain in my liver. I had to go to the doctor to get a suboxen prescription in order to get off it. The first few days were hellish even with the suboxen. I got to experience gooseflesh, which as you can imagine, is not a great feeling.

All that to say this, it shouldn't be legal and everyone selling it knows what they are doing. There are A LOT of scumbags out there.

  … Florida banned 7-OH in August; in September,…

Banned in Florida? It must be bad.

Either bad, or insufficiently-taxed.

Ever so slightly disappointed that this story ended up being about addiction and not about a strange compounding of kratom that was spontaneously combusting.

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