Episode Details

Not All Opioids Are Evil: The Promise and Perils of Kratom

Published 19 hours ago

Description

The state of the Kratom space is sordid; fly-by-night vendors abound, and chemists create ultra-addictive forms of the herb, which marketers slap silly labels on and then sell at gas stations. For the longest time, I was unimpressed by Kratom, but recently it has passed 4 clinical trials--giving it a place in the performance optimizers' herbal armory.

I'm joined by Brandon Hayes of Tribe Botanics; we get into the promise and perils of Kratom along with the recent science. Tribe Botanics, based in New Jersey, stands out because of their transparency and quality standards: every batch is third-party lab-tested, and full COAs and exact mitragynine % are published. That's what we look for as Biohackers!

03:55 Brandon on product transparency and testing

06:05 Gas-station products, responsible use, and dependence concerns

12:40 Reported differences between white, green, and red strains

14:08 Kratom and social confidence: Brandon’s coaching anecdotes

20:17 Legality, regional access, and personal experiences

25:08 What the speakers say about 7-OH products

27:17 Pain relief, human research, and harm-reduction claims

33:00 Customer reports, PTSD, and opioid harm reduction

38:18 What limited clinical research can and can’t establish

43:17 Combining substances and considering personal risk

48:12 Sexual performance, sponsor model, and medication cautions

58:11 Brandon’s advice: prioritize action over theory