The Stories of Impact from Kratom Addiction

Personal Stories

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  In 2017, our son Cameron discovered kratom online while he was a college athlete. It was marketed as a "safe, plant-based herbal supplement"—a healthy alternative to alcohol that could boost mood, improve focus for studying, and even help with sleep.

  In 2021, a terrifying trip to the emergency room exposed the truth. A physician told us plainly: kratom acts like an opioid—and Cameron was in severe withdrawal. He felt like he was going to die. What followed was physical and emotional torment we wouldn't wish on anyone. Recovery was long, agonizing, and seemingly hopeless at times—more like climbing a mountain on his hands and knees.

  Cameron lost nearly eight years of his life to a product sold as harmless.

  Today, his story is no longer rare. Across our communities, more families are confronting kratom dependence, devastating withdrawal, and worse - death.

  While compounds in this plant may have therapeutic potential, the risks are real, and many in the kratom industry work tirelessly to downplay them. This website exists to expose the truth, warn parents and grandparents, and urge lawmakers to act—either by banning kratom products outright or regulating them with the same safeguards we expect for pharmacy-controlled substances: clear consumption limits, tracking, and a quality consultation upon purchase.

  Together, we can end kratom addiction—and save lives.

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  Nobody told me that there was any withdrawal symptoms or anything, but then I ended up feeling the same way that I did whenever I was trying to come off of opiates. So, ultimately, it just ended up leading me right back to using the drugs I was trying to get off of. There's warning labels on cigarettes, nicotine, all types of things, but kratom is honestly just like a street drug, and I don't think it should even be allowed to be sold in a gas station or be legal in general.

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  I first tried kratom in 2005 in college. Even then, I recognized that it felt opioid-like, and I remember describing it as “Vicodin tea.” In 2014, at the tail end of another opioid addiction, I began using kratom powder as a replacement. My family eventually discovered my use, and I stopped. I had pretty long withdrawal symptoms but remained completely kratom-free for more than ten years.

  
  That changed in 2025. Around October, I had COVID, a severe sinus infection, and a broken foot. I was in blinding pain and decided to try 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, for some pain relief.
  Despite my history with opioids and kratom, I managed to convince myself that using it for pain would be different. This time it would be different. It wasn’t.

  
  As expected, my use escalated quickly. While familiar in feeling, the pills were far more reinforcing than what I had tried before, and I rapidly lost control. Eventually, using these products alongside my daily anxiety medication, clonazepam, led to a severe medical crisis and a possible pharmacokinetic interaction. I developed psychosis, delirium, and acute cerebral metabolic encephalopathy, and was hospitalized for about two weeks. I have very little memory of the weeks before admission and have been piecing together the experience from what others have told me.
  After that hospitalization, I was medically tapered from 7-OH and clonazepam.

  
  Today, recovery occupies a central role in my life. I devote most of my time to helping people who are battling kratom and kratom metabolite addiction, and to raising awareness about the risks these products pose. I push for federal systemic change concerning the entire plant. Kratom has no place in our dietary supplement system. As a new dietary ingredient, there isn’t enough data to confirm its safety.

  
  I don’t tell my story because I believe everyone who uses kratom will experience what I did. I share it because people deserve to know that kratom products can lead to real opioid dependence, withdrawal, compulsive use, and serious consequences. It’s not just a “harmless leaf”.

  
  Twenty years after first calling kratom “Vicodin tea,” I understand just how important that observation was.

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  I first struggled with Kratom extracts after trying the liquid shots sold by the 5Hour Energy. Believing they were harmless being sold in a gas station and the placing of the product being by energy shots. It quickly went from occasional use to taking them several times a day. For five years I battled this addiction, spending money we didn’t have and relapsing continuously despite wanting to stop.

  In 2025, a smoke shop cashier offered me a free sample saying they were simply a cheaper form of Kratom. I soon realized they were much stronger than what I was originally taking. I continued taking the tablets for three months believing they were Kratom like I was told, until I became pregnant and tried to quit. The horrific withdrawal symptoms–profusly sweating, vomiting, uncontrollable arms and legs, and feeling like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. I immediately realized something was wrong. Research led me to 7OH, a potent substance I had unknowingly been consuming. I was terrified for my unborn baby and afraid to ask my Dr for help, and in so much fear if I attempted to endure the withdrawal I would lose my unborn child. For nine months, I suffered in silence, terrified to ask for help all while battling shame, self-hatred and suicidal thoughts.

  My son was born experiencing withdrawal, the Drs treated him with morphine to alleviate the symptoms. My husband was informed that our son had been born with this substance in his body, he didn’t know I was using while pregnant, no one did. CPS came to the hospital and I believed my husband and children would be better off without me. But my husband showed me mercy when I was sure he would show hate. He hugged me, cried with me, and told me we needed to get me help. His grace and mercy and love saved my life. After bringing our baby home, I quit cold turkey on the couch while we sent the children to grandmas. I lasted five days before relapsing. That relapse lasted five months and the addiction spun more out of control than ever. I lost an alarming amount of weight, sold our belongings to fund my addiction and hid the truth from my husband, yet again, due to fear. Once again my life revolved around 7OH and the darkness returned.

  After five excruciating months of this relapse I finally came to my husband yet again and told him I needed help. We found a detox center, and I returned to online Kratom recovery meetings and surrounded myself with a supporting community. This time, I committed to recovery. I learned that speaking up when cravings hit, being honest with my husband about struggles and leaning on my support group were essential for my recovery. My addiction had thrived in secrecy and shame, I finally understood my recovery has to be built around honesty and being vulnerable. And in understanding that, I finally found recovery.

  Today, I strive to share my story for the mother living the nightmare I once lived–for the woman who is pregnant and terrified, ashamed and convinced she cannot tell anyone what is happening nor ask for help. I know what it feels like to fear judgment, to hate yourself for what you have become–what you’ve done, and to feel trapped by a substance you never fully understood. But recovery is possible, asking for help does not make you a bad mother, and neither does struggling. And I want you to know you are not alone. There is no shame in asking for help, your story does not have to end where mine almost did.

Video Testimonies