New Study From John Hopkins: Kratom and Addiction

The effects and benefits of kratom are hotly contested here in the United States. The issue has become politicized, and there are a lot of people who feel strongly about this plant. Some institutions and individuals want to see kratom banned, while others think it’s important for kratom to remain legal. Recently, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Medicine International Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences have added new information to this discussion.

Researchers have published their findings and said that the information uncovered points to a need for research and regulation but not an outright ban on the sale of kratom. Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers conclude that the psychoactive compound in kratom is not showing great signs of abuse. The following information is available thanks to a large survey of 2,798 kratom users.

Who Uses Kratom

Based on the research collected by surveying nearly 3,000 people, 61% of the people who use kratom are women. While this seems like a significant majority, keep in mind that even the relatively large sample size of this survey doesn’t cover everyone who buys kratom. Additionally, 84% of the people surveyed have at least some college education, which points to an informed base. The average age of kratom consumers surveyed is 40 years old.

Why Do People Buy Kratom?

One of the things that makes this plant so interesting is that everyone seems to have their own reasons for being interested in it. Even so, there are definite trends that emerge once you start to talk to enough people about why they buy kratom.

While many people reported multiple reasons for buying kratom, the survey points to four reasons that are reported especially commonly:

• 91% of people buy kratom for relief from difficult days on the body
• 67% of people buy kratom for mood
• 41% of people buy kratom for alternative plant-based products instead over the counter or prescription products.

That last point is especially interesting, especially given the political discussion in the United States about whether or not kratom should be illegal. Some people say this plant should be banned because it’s too similar to opioids, while others say kratom should be researched because of its potential to help curb the opioid epidemic in the United States.

What Are the Side Effects of Kratom?

In fact, a statistically significant minority of kratom users surveyed did report experiencing some side effects. The Johns Hopkins survey shows that 19% of people experienced mild side effects, 1.9% of people experienced serious side effects, and 9.5% of people experienced withdrawal. The symptoms considered to be “serious” as opposed to “mild” in this survey include things like anxiety, irritability, depression, and insomnia. The good news for the kratom community is that these results suggest a lower potential of abuse than the FDA says there is for opioids.

Understanding the Survey – Is Kratom Addictive?

Before jumping to any firm conclusions based on the data presented, it’s important to understand this survey for what it is. The survey relied on input from more than 2,700 people who are self-reported users of kratom as an herbal supplement. These people buy kratom online or in smoke shops throughout the United States. Based on this information, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine did conclude that kratom likely has a lower rate of harm than prescription opioids. Opioids are often used for treating pain, anxiety, depression, and addiction.

The information published does refer to kratom as a psychoactive compound, though, so it’s certainly best to take it seriously. When the findings were published in a February 2020 issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, the researchers also noted that self-reporting surveys aren’t always completely reliable. Since the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t regulated kratom very well, or even approved it, the Johns Hopkins researchers say we need more scientific studies to establish the safety and benefits of kratom.

With these caveats in mind, the researchers did conclude that kratom seems relatively safe and may offer therapeutic potential as well.. Albert Garcia-Romeu, Ph.D., an instructor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, was close to the survey. He says, “there has been a bit of fear mongering because kratom is opioid like, and because of the toll of our current opioid epidemic.”

Dr. Garcia-Romeu also added that the survey’s findings, “suggest that kratom doesn’t belong in the category of a Schedule I drug, because there seems to be a relatively low rate of abuse potential, and there may be medical applications to explore, including as a possible treatment for pain and opioid use disorder.” This online survey is big news for the kratom community around the world and especially here in the United States.

Comparing Kratom to Opioids

The United States National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that 8-12% of people who are prescribed opioids become dependent on them. This is comparable to the survey results that say 13% of people met some criteria for kratom-related substance use disorder, but that’s only for people who met some criteria. The survey only found that 3% of responses met the criteria for moderate or severe substance use disorder related to kratom. This is all based on the Substance Use Disorder Symptom checklist outlined by the American Psychiatric Association’s guidelines in the fifth edition of their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Only 1.9% of those surveyed said their side effects were significant enough that they felt compelled to seek medical treatment. These withdrawal symptoms included anxiety, irritability, depression, and insomnia. Less than 10% of the people surveyed reported any notable kratom withdrawal symptoms. The American Kratom Association estimates that as many as 16 million people in the United States regularly use kratom, which makes this quote from Dr. Garcia-Remeu even more interesting:

​ ​“Both prescription and illicit opioids carry the risk of lethal overdose as evidenced by the more than 47,000 opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2017. Notably, there’s been fewer than 100 kratom-related deaths reported in a comparable period, and most of these involved mixing with other drugs or in combination with preexisting health conditions.”

Have Questions or Concerns? Reach Out to Laughing Lion Herb Today!

The results of this survey are promising, but they’re not to be taken as conclusive evidence. If you do decide to buy kratom, we strongly recommend that you choose a reliable vendor. Here at

Laughing Lion Herbs, we pride ourselves on providing pure kratom at fair prices. As always, we invite you to contact us with questions or concerns.