|
Top headlines
Lead story
A once-little-known green powder called kratom is at the heart of a growing controversy over the lack of oversight of the herbal supplement – which many people assume is safe simply because it comes from a natural source.
Derived from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree, kratom is marketed by lobbyists and proponents in the natural health industry as being an effective treatment for chronic pain, addiction, mood disorders and other ailments. What’s more, it can be easily found in gas stations and convenience stores across the country.
But research shows that kratom, which has opioid effects similar to morphine, is far from safe: A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found that poisonings and hospitalizations from the substance have spiked by 1,200% since 2015, when its popularity began to surge.
Andrew Kolodny, a physician from Brandeis University who studies the opioid crisis, explains that the popularity of kratom grew as people searched for safe alternatives to prescription opioids. But amid a vacuum of regulation, kratom has become a scourge of its own – and now, lawmakers are scrambling to catch up and implement laws to curb its use.
[How faith and religion drive the world. Sign up for our weekly newsletter, This Week in Religion.]
|
