Season 14 • Episode 1120

Kratom, the Opioid-Like Drug Available at Your Gas Station

Episode Description

About this episode:

Kratom is an imported leaf containing opioid-like psychoactive compounds that can be found at your local convenience store or online. Recently linked to the deaths of two college students, the product sits at the intersection of burgeoning research, drug policy limitations, and harm reduction, leaving the potentially dangerous compounds found in kratom unregulated. In this episode: Drug safety expert Caleb Alexander and host Lindsay Smith Rogers discuss what kratom is and where regulation of the drug stands.

Guest:

Dr. G. Caleb Alexander, MS, is an internal medicine physician and co-director of the Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness. He holds joint appointments in Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Host:

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Show links and related content:

Temporary Control of 7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and Other Kratom-Related Substances Under the Controlled Substances Act—Congressional Research Service Legal Sidebar
The rise of novel, semi-synthetic 7-hydroxymitragynine products—Addiction
Kratom: Summary of State Laws—Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association
Kratom found at locations where two Ole Miss students were discovered dead—NBC News

Transcript information:

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