In America, drug narratives are not shaped by science. They are shaped by corporations, political influence, and the algorithms that decide what we see online. The story of kratom proves this point.
For years, the FDA has repeated the line that there is “no scientific evidence” that kratom has medical properties. That claim is echoed in medical journals, headlines, and search snippets. Yet what does not surface unless you deliberately search for it are the studies and testimonies showing how people use kratom to manage pain, anxiety, and opioid withdrawal. The medical industrial complex, which includes pharmaceutical companies, the alcohol industry, and addiction treatment providers, has little incentive to let that side of the story dominate.
The system thrives on keeping people dependent on expensive prescription drugs, rehab centers, and medical interventions. A cheap, natural plant that offers relief threatens that structure. And when corporations feel threatened, the narrative is quickly adjusted.
A look at the numbers shows how misleading this narrative really is. A CDC report in 2019 found kratom connected to 91 deaths over 18 months, but nearly all of those cases involved other substances. The FDA later pointed to 44 deaths where kratom was present, again with nearly every case showing heavy polysubstance abuse. Compare that to alcohol, which the CDC reports kills 178,000 Americans each year. There are about 1.7 million kratom users nationwide, which puts the mortality rate at about 0.005 percent. Among alcohol’s 133 million users, the death rate is 0.13 percent. That makes alcohol more than 26 times deadlier, yet it is legal, promoted, and sold everywhere, while kratom is pushed into the shadows.
The way information is delivered online makes this worse. Type “kratom” into a search bar and you are met with FDA warnings, stories about deaths, and recovery industry websites. What you won’t see at the top are peer-reviewed studies showing benefits, or the lived experiences of veterans and others who credit kratom with saving their lives. Algorithms are not neutral. They favor institutional voices and high-profit industries, burying community reports and independent research under an avalanche of official disapproval.
This pattern repeats in politics. In Louisiana, lawmakers leaned on the grief of a handful of mothers whose children reportedly died with kratom in their system. Their pain was genuine, but it was also weaponized. Meanwhile, the voices of mothers who lost children to alcohol, fentanyl, or prescription opioids were nowhere to be found. Those industries have lobbyists. Kratom does not. Instead of regulating and removing adulterated gas-station products, legislators imposed a full ban. Emotion carried the day while data and lived experience were ignored.
It is important to be clear here. No one is arguing that kratom is entirely benign. Like alcohol, caffeine, or prescription painkillers, it can be misused. That is why regulation, not prohibition, is the sensible path. Standards for labeling, dosage, and purity would protect consumers while allowing access for those who rely on kratom as an alternative to opioids or alcohol. An outright ban does the opposite. It criminalizes responsible users, pushes them toward unsafe black-market products, and strips away a tool that has kept many people alive.
You may be wondering why we have a picture of someone behind bars as the featured image. Well the larger context is the War on Drugs. From Nixon and Reagan to Clinton and Biden, prohibitionist drug policy has always been less about saving lives than about control and profit. Louisiana Democrats voted alongside Republicans for the kratom ban, proving that this legacy is alive and well on both sides of the aisle. The same rhetoric about “protecting the children” that fueled mass incarceration is now being used to outlaw a plant that many rely on to survive.
The human impact of this cannot be ignored. As the owner of a kava and “former” kratom bar in New Orleans, I have seen firsthand how kratom changes lives. Veterans with PTSD, people once hooked on heroin or fentanyl, and others battling chronic pain have all found a lifeline in this plant. NIH-linked research confirms that between 30 and 44 percent of kratom users turn to it to get off harder substances. These are not fringe cases. They are the core of the kratom community. Yet 325,000 Louisiana kratom users are now cut off, pushed toward black markets or back into the arms of far deadlier drugs.
The fallout goes beyond individuals. Safe, sober businesses that offered a community for recovery have been shuttered overnight. Places that provided alternatives to drinking culture, where former addicts could gather without temptation, are being erased by legislation that claims to save lives but is doing the opposite.
This fight is not finished. It will return to the Louisiana legislature next session, and those who understand what is at stake will continue to educate and lobby for change. Regulation is the only rational path forward. Prohibition only guarantees more loss of lives, livelihoods, and of the safe spaces that once gave people hope.
Banning kratom does not save lives. It destroys them.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
