So I'm involved with 3 NA groups and head up/organize one of them. I have now met 11 people who have gotten off oxycodone, heroin and/or fentanyl by using a tapering kratom schedule. I'm also familiar with 3 other individuals who tried the kratom way and failed. But 11 outta 14? That's nothing short of miraculous.

Yes, it's anecdotal. No, there's no science yet. But this fentanyl is basically decimating my old neighborhood. We buried another last week. I'm sick of this. I haven't tried the kratom myself but I've grown pretty close with someone who got off a nasty oxy habit using it and me and him are considering starting a grassroots, non-profit (when I say non-profit I mean this shit is gonna cost us some money) little indie thing. Basically, what I've been convinced of now is that this Kratom has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. Working with a withdrawal intensity scale of 1 to 10....10 being someone who shoots heroin 5 times a day and a 1 being someone who takes 3 percs (15mg of oxycodone) per day. The transition from opiates to kratom can take a withdrawal intensity from a 7 to 10 to a 1 to 3 within 7 to 10 days.

Our basic plan is to make some homemade pamphlets and pass them out at the two methadone clinics in my old neighborhood. We've already bought some bulk red-leaf Kratom and our plan is simple.....Sign up with us and we do an interview. We establish intensity of use and make a kratom schedule based on that. Then we deliver (we both have cars) daily doses that get smaller and smaller until a complete cut-off. All free of charge. My pops is worried about liability but I feel like i gotta do this. Kratom isn't illegal in Canada yet. We've spent only 150 dollars so far and have estimated we already have enough Kratom for around 15 to 20 clients.

and it's good your heart is in the right place, but logistically this reads as messy

I'm hoping you arrive at a better solution than "what about this drug instead?" for people with addictive personalities

Sobriety is the best option and that is the aim of our Kratom program.

But....if they DO substitute Kratom for their opiate addiction long-term instead of a tool to get completely straight....that is certainly a major, major, major reduction in harm. I'm not a complete believer in harm reduction. i believe in sobriety outright. But I'm also a realist....and drinking beer is better than drinking whiskey if you know what I mean. (an analogy that doesn't even do justice to the difference between kratom and opiates) The fact is....Kratom doesn't kill you. This Fentanyl shit is lethal.

Daily.

Really, the only negative is that it is somewhat addictive, but nothing dramatic. Still, I didn't like feeling dependent, so waned off it year or so ago. The dependency/withdrawal symptoms are still there but not as bad as it is with opiates. Mostly you just feel shitty/empty/irritable for a week or so, then back to normal.

I can really only go off my own experience though. I don't know anyone else who takes it, but I do think it could definitely be helpful in people getting off pills. At least you're going in a less dangerous direction. The more opiates dry up, the more people will just turn to more dangerous alternatives like H instead.

Best of luck in what you're doing. What are the kratom laws in CA? (edit: just read it was in your post)

What's being told to me....that the withdrawals from Kratom are so moderate the following comparison has been made to me.

Take, for starters, a methadone patient. To get clean...they're withdrawal symptoms would typically be 3 times as powerful as your's with Kratom....and instead of lasting one week...they last 6 weeks. Who has 6 weeks to go through that? You can see why some people stay on legal methadone for 10, 15, sometimes 20 years. When do you find the time to basically have no responsibilities for 6 weeks?

So....you take KRATOM for 6 weeks. Now you've transferred addictions. Now you've traded in a 6 week process for a one week process that also happens to be one third of the intensity. 3 of the 11 people at our meetings did this exact thing to get off methadone and were successful.

So for methadone specifically, it's mostly about lowering the amount of time one has to endure withdrawals.

Fentanyl addicts who use heavily time-released methods of use are gonna have to be on the Kratom for longer than heroin addicts. Probably around 2 to 3 weeks. Oxycontin probably around 7 to 10 days. heroin or percocet probably 5 to 7. It's all about the time release of the way they use opiates.

So we have two variables.....the time release of the way they do their opiates. The longer the time release (methadone being the longest, percocet being the shortest) determines the length of time they use the Kratom. The second variable is the amount of opiate they use per day....obviously, the more opiate...the more kratom.

I can't believe how cheap the shit is. There are NO laws regarding Kratom in Canada. And what's the worst that can happen? We're talking about Fentanyl and oxy junkies here for the most part. If we introduce them to Kratom and they don't follow our taper schedule/decide to find their own Kratom source....they're still doing kratom instead of fucking the devil drug Fentanyl.