What is kratom? What is CBD oil? Are they safe? Can we mix them together? Let us try to answer these and other questions and kratom and CBD.
What do we know about kratom?
To understand the difference between kratom vs CBD, let’s first find out what Kratom is.
Kratom is a tropical evergreen plant/herb in the Mitragyna speciosa species within the coffee family. It is native to the Southeast Asia region (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea) and goes by other names like Krypton, Thom, Biak-Biak, Kakuam, and Thang.
Kratom leaves and their extracts have been used as sedatives and stimulants for a long time. Since the early 18th century, South Asian communities have used Kratom in small doses to treat and manage chronic pain, depression, insomnia, fatigue, digestive ailments, and withdrawal from opioid and heroin dependence.
The dark green leaves of the Kratom plant are dried and crushed into a green or brown powder. It is consumed in the form of edible leaves, capsules, tablets, pastes, or oils that can be smoked, chewed, or steeped into drinks.
Kratom is legal in the United States where it is marketed as alternative medicine. However, it is illegal in Canada, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, and many European countries.
So as you can see kratom and CBD are not the same thing. You can learn everything you need to know about CBD in our CBD 101 Guide.
What are the effects of kratom?
The active ingredients in Kratom are alkaloids (7-hydroxymitragynine and mitragynine) found in the leaves. When consumed in low doses, Kratom extracts work as stimulants and cause effects like alertness, sociability, giddiness, and increased energy that can last for over one and a half hours.
At high doses (10-25 grams), Kratom extracts cause sedative effects like calmness, euphoria, dizziness, nausea, hallucinations, and delusions that can last for over six hours. When overdosed, Kratom has been reported to cause breathing suppression, seizures, induce comas, or even cause death.
Long-term usage of Kratom can lead to addiction and cause kidney and liver failure.
How do people use Kratom?
People consume it in the form of edible kratom leaves, kratom capsules, kratom tablets, kratom pastes, or kratom oils. It can be ingested, smoked, chewed, or brewed into drinks.
If you smoke dry kratom leaves or powdered kratom, the active ingredients are absorbed in your brain through the blood in your lungs. If you chew or ingest kratom as leaves, capsules, oils, or powder steeped into drinks, active ingredients are absorbed by your brain through the blood in your digestive tract.
Is Kratom addictive? Is Kratom safe?
While kratom is used in the treatment of opioid and heroin addiction, it can be highly addictive when abused for a long time. Regular users report experiencing psychological and emotional changes with kratoms like insomnia, and muscle aches. Amongst other dependent users, kratom leads to aggression, irritability, and hostility.
You might be wondering, is kratom safe?
Kratom is no different from other drugs and substances. If abused regularly, it can be addictive and lethal to your organs like your kidney, lungs, and liver.
What are the health effects of Kratom?
Depending on the amount you consume, your method of consumption, and your frequency of use, kratom can have different health effects. If consumed in the right amounts, kratom offers advantages like increased energy, chronic pain relief, alertness, and sociability.
When abused for a long time, kratom can cause nausea, itchiness, sweating, dry mouth, constipation, hallucinations, seizures, and loss of appetite.
Is it possible to get an overdose on kratom?
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 91 people died from kratom overdose across 27 U.S. States between 2016 and 2017. However, 84 of the 91 cases involved the mixing of kratom with other substances.
Common symptoms of a kratom overdose according to American Addiction Centers include fast heart rate, hypertension, nausea, agitation, seizures, and coma.
Can we use Kratom as medicine?
Although many people continue to use kratom as a herbal alternative medicine, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to warn people about using it.
Research and clinical trials on the health effects of kratom remain scarce. This negatively affects the possibility of processing kratom for medicine or using kratom as a medicine.
Kratom vs CBD Oil: What should we know
Numerous debates exist on CBD oil vs kratom. Which is better for pain, anxiety, and sleep? Which is stronger CBD oil or kratom?
The truth is while some people prefer the strength and health benefits of kratom, CBD proves to be much safer, non-addictive, and offers many scientifically proven health benefits like pain relief, anxiety, and sleep problems.
Should Kratom and CBD oil be mixed?
People who use kratom and CBD oil together are mostly seeking the thrill experienced when the effects of consuming both substances complement each other.
A kratom and CBD oil combo might be safe when consumed in the right ratio and dosage, but there just isn’t enough studies or historical data on what exactly that means. So for your safety, we would not recommend mixing the two.
Kratom vs CBD oil final verdict
Overall, CBD oil triumphs over kratom.
As we have already seen, kratom has various uses particularly treating opioid and heroin addiction. However, it has many negative effects and most of its health benefits are inconclusive and untrustworthy.
CBD oils, on the other hand, have minimal negative effects and offer numerous scientifically proven health benefits.
At ICARIA we are happy to help you make the right decision when choosing CBD oils and related products. You can shop CBD products here or reach out to us with your questions here.
