WNYT: Doctor Details New Troubling Kratom Trend

From the report:

Dr. Angad Madan is the medical director of St. Peter’s Addiction Recovery Center.

Early on, he was sounding the alarm about what he was seeing first-hand with patients hooked on kratom and its effects.

Newschannel 13 featured him in a series on kratom in June.

Since then, it seems lawmakers have been listening.

Albany county, for example, where officials say one person has died this year from kratom, declared kratom a danger to life and health with a ban through an emergency public health order recently.

Experts say it’s almost an introductory opioid, but one that you can find at your corner store.

Its nickname is “gas station heroin.”

...

“My main concern is opiod overdoses caused by kratom, which is a full agonist opioid that is at least 13 times the potency of morphine,” he said. “I have also started seeing pregnant patients using kratom at St. Peter’s. I’ve seen post-partum kratom withdrawal. We’ve seen cases of neo-natal abstinence syndrome where the newborn is also withdrawing from this dangerous opioid.”

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