COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – A plant native to Southeast Asia is gaining popularity in the U.S., including in Colorado.
Kratom is marketed as everything from a relaxing herbal supplement to an ingredient in energy drinks.
Some people say kratom helps manage chronic pain or even supports recovery from addiction. But some health experts warn the plant can also be addictive and potentially dangerous, particularly in concentrated or chemically altered forms.
At Kiody Kava in Colorado Springs, business owner Corey Montenegro sells kratom as a powder that customers typically mix with water or juice. Montenegro says he turned to kratom after nearly a decade of taking prescription pain medication following an injury that required back surgery.
“I didn’t want to be addicted to pain pills,” Montenegro said. “It’s happened to a ton of people and I didn’t wanna be one of those people.”
He said that after nine years, he began researching kratom as an alternative.
“The pain was less, a lot less,” Montenegro said.
There are currently no federal laws broadly restricting the sale of kratom, and federal authorities have not approved kratom for medical use.
David Kroll, a pharmaceutical sciences professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, has studied kratom since about 2016. Kroll says the substance has both potential benefits and significant risks.
“It is not a prescription drug, but it should be treated as a prescription drug,” Kroll said.
Kroll says some people mistakenly believe kratom is completely safe, which can lead to dangerous use, including combining it with other substances.
“We have a serious issue on hand where some people are overdosing on kratom thinking that it’s safe, or mixing it with other chemicals that can make the kratom unsafe,” Kroll said.
Kroll says he distinguishes between kratom in its traditional plant form and newer, concentrated products containing a chemical known as 7-OH, short for 7-hydroxymitragynine.
He says the availability of these extracted products — often in small quantities, easy to digest forms such as tablets or flavored liquid–has contributed to growing concerns.
“Like opioids, it can cause potential overdoses, even where people stop breathing,” he said. “Incidences of either very serious overdoses or deaths are usually not from Kratom alone; They are due to using kratom with some other depressant. As little as a sedating anti-histamine, like Benadryl…” Kroll said.
Kroll believes additional federal regulation is needed to protect consumers.
“So there’s got to be some kind of new legislation enforced federally that protects people from the toxic side effects,” he said.
Colorado has taken steps to regulate kratom.
Last year, state lawmakers made it illegal to advertise or sell kratom products to anyone under 21. The state also added new labeling requirements for kratom products.
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