In the window of Smoker’s World in the center of Columbia’s Five Points neighborhood, the word “kratom” is lit up in neon green lights. It’s advertising an increasingly popular drug made from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree closely related to the coffee plant.
You can find it in gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops advertised with promises that it provides calm, focus and energy. In it’s raw form, it’s sold as a green powder that can be packed into gel pill capsules and brewed into teas and bottled drinks. New and powerful derivatives of the plant’s psychotropic chemicals are cropping up in gummies and chewable tablets. In South Carolina, anyone of any age can walk into a store and legally purchase as much as they want.
Many users say that at low doses, the drug provides more energy and better moods. But at high doses, it functions like a narcotic, dulling pain and inducing euphoria. While not containing any opioids, organic chemicals in kratom bond with the brain’s opioid receptors and can suppress cravings for opiate drugs. This has led to the drug being marketed as a healthy, natural solution to the nation’s addiction crisis…