These are the effects of Kratom, the new “highly addictive” drug arriving in Chile

On March 23 of this year, the Investigative police (PDI) detected a strange illegal shipment. It came from Peru and was not the typical drug usually seized. It was about 261 kilos of green powder, a new one medicine baptized as kratom which creates a strong dependency and whose consequences on health They are serious.

But on September 8, 2022, we had already seen him in Chile. According to information from Customs , They received two boxes containing 20 vacuum-sealed plastic bags, the contents of which were the same green powder. He came from the United Arab Emirates.

The recipient was allegedly “a person residing in Puente Alto, who imported significant quantities of a hallucinogenic drug” » said the national head of the fight against narcotics and organized crime, Paulo Contreras, at the time.

With this new cargo found this year, Authorities warn that it is an illicit substance, harmful to health and whose mixing with other drugs can lead to death.

He US National Institute on Drug Abuse catalog kratom as “a plant substance that can produce effects similar to those of opioids and stimulants” originating from Southeast Asia. It is a plant from the coffee family.

In this line, the academic Mario Rivera-Meza of Department of Pharmacological and Toxicological Chemistry of the University of Chile mentioned that “The traditional use of kratom is to relieve pain and reduce fatigue in workers.”

“It is also used to treat opioid dependence and the symptoms associated with its withdrawal.” he added.

For this reason, kratom is legal and accessible in some US states, while others have decided to suspend it from the legal market. Other authorities joined us after The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) included it on its blacklist, due to the high number of deaths due to its addictive use.

In Chile, kratom is banned and sanctioned by the Law 20,000 . And its use as a drug and its interaction with other components (including medications) can be fatal.

“It has been found that kratom may interfere with substances eliminated by conjugation in the liver, which can lead to poisoning” , assured the expert. Along the same lines, consuming kratom with medications such as oxazepam, naproxen, testosterone, flurbiprofen, and carvedilol, for example, could have a fatal outcome.

The same thing happens with the combination of kratom and alcohol or other drugs of abuse, such as ketamine. Furthermore, It is highly addictive because “it acts in the same way as morphine and fentanyl.”

Consumers can experience episodes of psychosis, anger and paranoia, in addition to effects on the heart, stomach and nervous system.

The general effects that this medicine causes on the body are:

• Hustle.
• Tachycardia.
• Drowsiness.
• Confusion.

If consumption is exceeded, the harmful consequences on health can be:

• Hepatotoxicity.
• Seizures.
• Damage to the lungs and liver.
• Cardiotoxicity.
• The death.

In general, Those who consume this medicine (which usually comes in dried leaf or powder form) smoke it, drink it as an infusion, or ingest it in capsules.