The Pain Behind the Plant

If you’ve been hearing the word lately and wondering what it is—or how to spell it—you’re joining a conversation humans have been having for thousands of years.

Two University of Mississippi students are dead, and kratom is suddenly all over the news. Authorities found packaged kratom, bought from a retail store, in both cases. The students were found at separate locations, and the deaths are being investigated separately. Investigators have not determined whether kratom or any other substance played a role. My heart goes out to their families and friends.

Kratom itself isn't new, and neither is the impulse behind it.

Long before prescriptions, humans looked to plants to make reality feel different. Poppies. Mushrooms. Mandrake. Coca leaves. Cannabis. Kratom. Whenever reality became too painful, frightening, or exhausting, humans found something growing nearby that could change it.

Long before anesthesia, antidepressants, or sleeping pills, people looked for relief from pain they couldn't fix.

A mother loses a child in 1000 BCE. She doesn't know the word trauma.

A soldier watches his friends die. Nobody diagnoses PTSD.

Someone lies awake terrified about tomorrow. Nobody calls it anxiety.

A grieving husband desperately wants to believe his wife isn't completely gone. Nobody calls it complicated grief.

But not having a name for a feeling doesn't mean they didn't feel it.

People turned to what grew around them, including poppies, mushrooms, coca, cannabis, and mandrake. Some of those plants healed. Some were dangerous. Many were both. Maybe people weren't always trying to escape reality. Sometimes they were trying to make it bearable. Some say it may even have made an appearance in the Bible. Some scholars have argued that the mysterious Hebrew kaneh-bosem was actually cannabis.

Psychoactive mushrooms could create a profound sense of connection—which makes something Johann Hari famously said particularly ironic: “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety; the opposite of addiction is connection.”

The world changed. The human reasons didn't. And that brings us to kratom.

Kratom comes from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia, where people have long chewed or brewed it to fight fatigue, endure physical labor, and ease pain. Today it's sold in the U.S. as powders, capsules, teas, and extracts. The DEA says it can act as a stimulant at lower doses and a sedative at higher doses, but it can also lead to dependence. It acts on opioid receptors and some say it helped them with opioid withdrawal. but it isn't FDA-approved for any use. Products also vary widely in what's actually inside. Local authorities have advised people to avoid kratom, along with any substance not prescribed by a trusted source.

"Natural" has never meant "safe." And the pain that sends people searching for relief is real, whether it's physical pain, grief, anxiety, or dependence.

If that's you, or someone you love, you're not weak for wanting relief, and you don't have to find it alone. The SAMHSA National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) is free, confidential, and open 24/7. If you're in crisis, call or text 988.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. There is much to be learned about the short- and long-term effects of kratom in the body, its safety, and whether it may have therapeutic uses. For more information on kratom, click here.