When my little sister shot and killed her husband, my older sister thought it was because she drank too much whiskey. She sent her a case of wine, thinking that it was the whiskey that caused the trouble, and wine would be much safer. We alcoholics frequently have the same kind of magical thinking that we can find a form of alcohol or a drug that won’t give us all the trouble that we have been experiencing. The same thing happens with all the varieties of drugs that are out there on the open market.
Here's a question: What are “Feel Free Herbal Supplement”, “OH-7”, “Gas Station Heroin”, and “Kratom”. Here’s the answer: They are all the same thing. They are also sold under dozens of other names. Many of us know that Kratom is an addictive drug, but most of us are unaware of all the various names and different forms under which Kratom is sold today. It is sold as a solid pill, a set of leaves, a powder, and a liquid, now under dozens of different names. The names and forms change every week.
Feel Free hit the wellness market in 2020 and was promoted as a safe alternative to alcohol, caffeine, and pharmaceuticals. It was marketed as “A plant-based productivity booster.” Many people who had become sober tried it, hoping to feel, in some sense, better. It was sold in health food stores. Nowhere on the label did it say that the main ingredient was Mitragyna speciosa, also known as Kratom. Kratom binds to the brain’s opioid receptors, providing pain relief. At higher doses, it provides a feeling of euphoria. Many people who chase the euphoria become addicted.
Some of the users who became addicted sued the manufacturer, and they did not admit wrongdoing. They did agree to add a label that reads: “This product contains leaf kratom, which can become habit-forming and cause serious adverse health effects. Consider avoiding this product if you have any history of substance abuse.”
There is nothing to stop the manufacturer from opening up another company to market liquid kratom under another name in health food stores.
Last July, the Food and Drug Administration held hearings on regulating the synthetic and concentrated forms of kratom, sometimes sold under the name 7-OH in little bottles in convenience stores. “Feel Free Herbal Supplement” would come under these rules if they get passed. The little bottles of 7-OH Kratom sold as “one-hitters” in convenience stores has led to the name “gas station heroin”.
My concern for people in recovery is that our culture offers many ways to get high that are promoted as both safe and effective. Here’s my point of view: If it’s a liquid or solid high, it’s not safe. If it’s safe, it’s not a high. If I can drink it, smoke it, swallow it, or inject it to get high, it’s not safe.
I like feeling good. It’s natural. Love, trust, intimacy, service, being in the presence of God, and being in the presence of my family, my sober friends, and my normal friends who are living lives of honesty and service: it’s all good.
I even carefully take medications to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from child abuse long ago; but I’m no longer seeking to get high from alcohol or addictive drugs. I’m much happier this way.