DOSE:		oral	Kratom	(tea)
		smoked	Cannabis	(plant material)

BODY WEIGHT:

145 lb

I've actually only been using kratom for a little while now, about a month, but I must say that it's one of my favorite things that I've ever found. I'm 21 and I've been using drugs since I was 17. In the past, I have experimented with a wide variety of psychedelics and harder drugs, and I've been using marijuana daily for years. Particularly relevant to this experience report are the opiates I've tried, which include lots of hydrocodone, some oxycodone, morphine, and heroin once. I'm being completely honest when I say that I enjoy kratom more than all of these. The reason I'm writing this report is that, when I obtained my one pound bag of kratom leaf, I spent a few doses trying to figure out how to use this stuff, as there seems to be a lack of solid and consistent information.

I'd like to start with the preparation method I've been using. I actually got it from another report, but I have some notes on some things to watch out for. To make kratom tea (in my opinion the best way to make it), measure out your dried leaf, get about two cups of water into a medium-sized pot, and bring the water to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and add the leaves, immediately stirring to get them all wet. Adjust the temperature if necessary, so that the water is boiling GENTLY (make sure none of the leaves are getting burned on the sides or bottom of the pot). The first few times I made kratom, I had the heat on too high, and some leaves got burned. The resulting tea was much darker than it normally is and tasted much less bitter, as if some of the alkaloids were destroyed by the burning. Also, the tea didn't work very well those times. Anyway, continue to boil this for 20 minutes, and then strain out the leaves, pouring the tea into a separate container. Then put more water over the strained leaves, this time only about one cup or so, and make a second tea extraction in the same way. When you're done with this one, add it to the other extraction you made, and wait for it and the strained leaves to cool. When the leaves have cooled enough, firmly squeeze all the remaining liquid out of them into your tea.

Now, traditional recipes call for the further boiling down of this mixture to about a shot of liquid, but I never actually do this, because the one time I tried it seemed to burn the tea, weakening it. The liquid tastes unpleasant, and has a bitter aftertaste, but it's not as bad as people have reported, and even a sqig of water is enough to mostly remove this taste.

Next, I'll talk about dosage a little bit. I've never tried any dosage above 15 grams. Anyway, I've found a good starting dosage to be 10 grams, both for a person my size and for a friend who weighs closer to 200 lbs. Dosages lower than this produce effects, but they are more of a mild stimulation. Generally when I do kratom now, I take 13-15 grams, generally more like 13 or 14, but also I've done it over half the days of this past month, and I've built up a bit of tolerance.

Now, about the effects! As I said before, with very low doses, below 10 grams, the effects are similar to caffeine, except much milder. However, once I reach ten grams and above, the wonders of this miracle plant are revealed. After drinking the tea, I will begin to feel alerts quickly, within ten minutes probably. Ironically, I just drank some kratom tea about ten minutes ago as I'm writing this, and I'm just starting to come up now, so I'll write about it as it's happening. At the moment, I'm getting a great buzz that is spreading through my body, very similar to having several Vicodin, except with a warm stimulation behind it too. The buzz is characterized by waves of pleasure running through my limbs, particularly in my extremities. After about a half an hour to 45 minutes, the buzz strengthens considerably. As I mentioned, I've done oxycodone a few times and I compare the full effects mostly to this chemical. It is very euphoric, and makes my body feel wonderful. It also seems to reduce pain by a lot, or at least make me care less about it. I should mention that smoking cannabis, especially out of a bong or other high-powered water pipe, is nearly a must for me, as it synergizes extremely well. The full effects last for about two hours, and then the pleasant after-effects, which for me are mostly just like a reduced version of the full effects, last for another couple of hours generally.

I find that if I do kratom at night and fall asleep before I'm completely back to baseline, it's difficult to wake up the next morning, but if I do it in the day, the come down doesn't make me particularly tired. I'd like to emphasize something now. The effects of this plant are SERIOUSLY very, very similar to strong opiates. It even gives me 'the nod' sometimes. It is really quite amazing. Although kratom is kind of expensive for a legal plant ($140 with tax from where I bought it, for a pound), it is a LOT cheaper than actual strong opiates, and in my opinion, better, because it's natural and has many fewer side-effects. Particularly, I've only thrown up twice from kratom, once when I had a little too much and got carsick while riding in the back of my friend's car, and the other when I chugged the tea on an empty stomach. Strong opiates, however, generally make me throw up at some point during their effects. Also I should mention that, although some people have stated that they enjoy a little alcohol with their kratom, I find that to be a bad combination personally, as both times I have tried I ended up with less euphoria, more dizziness, and a minor headache.

Lastly, some miscellaneous information about kratom. It should be treated with respect. Remember this: kratom is a drug, and it is pretty strong. This isn't one of those herbs that could be placebo; this is the real deal. In Indonesia, the only place it grows wild, it is used by many, many people and is illegal. It definitely has addiction potential, although it does not seem anywhere near as great as with opiates. Also please remember, it isn't a good idea to drive on kratom. I actually have had to do it once, and I did fine, but it definitely alters my perception enough that it's a bad idea. If you still doubt kratom's power, think about this: I've let exactly ten of my friends try it at 10 grams, and all ten were blown away and loved it, and were quite inebriated for hours. Finally, a very important aspect of kratom is that I think it has HUGE potential for opiate addiction treatment. In any case, a friend of mine who has a bit of a problem with hyro and oxycodone took my kratom, and was amazed to find that it literally removed his craving entirely (he was out of pills at the time). Furthermore, the cravings didn't return for a whole day. He relapsed, but then bought kratom of his own and hasn't, to my knowledge, had any pills for over a week now. In addition, it seems, to me anyway, to completely remove any desire to drink alcohol, while I'm on it.

In conclusion, kratom is great. It gets an A+ by my reckoning. Please be careful, respectful, and discreet, and have fun!

Exp Year: 2005	ExpID: 40361
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Mar 18, 2005	Views: 61,720
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Kratom (203) : Various (28), Glowing Experiences (4), Retrospective / Summary (11), Combinations (3)