Adulterated Kratom: Why it's not a concern.

[7ohm]

The practice of tainting Kratom has not been very successful thus far in history. The only two times that I've been able to find where it's happened, people have died. I'm sure we agree that it's a pretty stupid thing to do. Killing off your customers doesn't make much economic sense. That's why adulterating Kratom doesn't happen, much like how weed never got "laced" when young. Let's look at the statement "because a company is financially motivated, they would be willing to adulterate Kratom". Here is why nobody's doing that from an economic standpoint:

1) Massive Cost benefit Analysis difference: You'd have to make a significant amount of money by selling adulterated Kratom to offset the potential liability that killing someone could bring. Potential cost is high including fiscal/econoic suicide from a lawsuit. Potential benefit is marginal at best, as there is only so much Kratom will fetch on the open market.

2) A large market already exists for Kratom in it's natural form. By adulterating your product, you are essentially changing it, which has an entirely different demand curve. There's def demand for such a product, but it's not the same market as Kratom. You would essentially be giving the consumer something they don't want.

3) Higher Cost. You're giving something away for nothing. Free adulterant. There are people who will pay for it.

4) Low probability of success. The odds that your customer won't notice are low. Deception will most certainly be uncovered. You'd be better off marketing to that consumer and advertising that your leaf is "supplemented".

You might argue that Companies kill people for profit all the time. Yeah, they do it when the potential benefit outweighs the potential cost. When a Car company decides whether to recall a car or not, they look at what the cost of the recall would be and compare it to what the cost of the lawsuits from lost life would be. The benefit of savings from the cost of recall have to outweigh the potential cost of lost life in order for the recall to happen. Does it get more unethical than that? They're willing to let people die over money. However immoral, it makes economic sense. Cost benefit analysis is a fundamental principle of economics, as is maximizing profit.

The case of adulterating Kratom has nothing to do with ethics or morality. It's simple economics. A profit motivated company would almost certainly prefer to give their customer what they demand because this is what would maximize profit. Cost benefit analysis says a profit seeking person/company would not engage in such deceptive practices. It's the same reason why nobody "laced" your weed even when there was a black market. Stop being paranoid (at least you were high when you thought that about weed). Even the fear mongering AKA released a follow up to their unfounded "Adulterated Kratom Warning". What's stopping people from messing with your Kratom? There is no law to stop them from doing it except the law of economics (Cheezy, I know, Couldn't help myself). Economics says that a business seeking to maximize profit would not engage in such practices.

You might be some scumbag willing to do anything for money, but I guarantee you're not going to take on a scam with such a high potential cost, low potential payout, and high probability for failure. You might as well rob a bank. I can't seem to come up with a profile for what a kratom spiking individual would be like. Fetishism? Psychosis? Dislike for money? Just a strong urge to anonymously give away drugs?

Even if it were happening,
a) would it be an issue?
If nobody's dying or getting hurt, which appears to be the case, is it a cause for concern?
b) what could be done about it?
It would be impossible to test for every possible adulterant. Think about the thousands of analogs that make up the rc market. You can only cost-effectively test for a finite number of compounds.
c) how would we know?
No economical way to test.
d) it's not common practice
Nobody's heard of anything since Krypton.

[Drewbie]

Are there a lot of claims that adulterated Kratom is a real risk? Product is good by itself, no need to spike it. Good thoughts..

[onespeedstop]

Any "spiking" would probably be in the "other direction" - to water it down with a cheaper filler product, because that does make sense in most all of the ways listed. The only downside is if it makes it too weak, then you will not get as many repeat customers in the longer run.

[Jfish030]

There are a bunch of companies that add extract to kratom powder that test low in mitra. That is adultered in my opinion

[GrannyJ62]

Thank you 7oh for putting it together in a way I can understand and refer to when trying to explain why this dosent happen,many people do say this I think to scare people.I do hear of things found in some kratom bags.I personally have never found anything but awesome leaf.

[IndelibleDotInk]

Thank you 7oh for putting it together in a way I can understand and refer to when trying to explain why this dosent happen,many people do say this I think to scare people.I do hear of things found in some kratom bags.I personally have never found anything but awesome leaf.

I have found the worst... duff leaf!

[CatfatherB]

There are a bunch of companies that add extract to kratom powder that test low in mitra. That is adultered in my opinion

Yep, Herbal Salvation, or viable..they openly admitted to that here, if not mistaken?

[DittonW]

4) Low probability of success. The odds that your customer won't notice are low. Deception will most certainly be uncovered. You'd be better off marketing to that consumer and advertising that your leaf is "supplemented".


Even if it were happening,
a) would it be an issue?
If nobody's dying or getting hurt, which appears to be the case, is it a cause for concern?
b) what could be done about it?
It would be impossible to test for every possible adulterant. Think about the thousands of analogs that make up the rc market. You can only cost-effectively test for a finite number of compounds.
c) how would we know?
No economical way to test.
d) it's not common practice
Nobody's heard of anything since Krypton.

a) It would be an issue if someone was on parole or probation and up against random UA's. This scenario would also cover c) how would we know? I have never heard of this happening though. I agree with your assessment , I think it's pretty self evident if you have had any interaction with black markets in the past . I believe things like this are intentional and that there are organizations who intentionally spread misinformation. I know thats vague but when you look at some(most) of the top search engine results for kratom they are so inaccurate and uniform that it implies a dedicated misinformation campaign . Certainly not objective assessment or reporting .

[7ohm]

There are a bunch of companies that add extract to kratom powder that test low in mitra. That is adultered in my opinion

without advertising it? Or, charging more for it? I guess you could say that it's adulterated. It is 100% Kratom though. Most natural food supplements on the market are usually mixed with extract. I personally think that adding a extract to kratom would change it significantly. The difference between extract and kratom is big, if you ask me. Kratom is effective enough on it's own. It's like adding liquor to your craft microbrew.

[7ohm]

There are a bunch of companies that add extract to kratom powder that test low in mitra. That is adultered in my opinion

Yep, Herbal Salvation, or viable..they openly admitted to that here, if not mistaken?

As they should...Was it any good?

[7ohm]

Thank you 7oh for putting it together in a way I can understand and refer to when trying to explain why this dosent happen,many people do say this I think to scare people.I do hear of things found in some kratom bags.I personally have never found anything but awesome leaf.

I have found the worst... duff leaf!

Lol. that would be funny if the Simpsons did Kratom. Homer ....instead of beer. Duff Kratom, my next venture.

[MikeEdoessomething]

There are a bunch of companies that add extract to kratom powder that test low in mitra. That is adultered in my opinion

Yep, Herbal Salvation, or viable..they openly admitted to that here, if not mistaken?

As they should...Was it any good?

I'm not the poster you are asking, but I have tried both of the strains Herbal Salvations/Viable Solutions sell that are enhanced: 1) Maha Kali and 2) Plantation MD... They state on the website that these strains may be enhanced, so I appreciate them being up front. As far as quality, the Maha Kali is what I call my "kidney stone" strain because it is the most effective pain relieving strain I've ever had, and I've had over 40 kidney stones in the past 12 years so I always like to keep some extra strong kratom around for those cases. The Maha Kali has helped me avoid going to the ER for stones multiple times, and makes passing the stones more tolerable. Granted this was in 2017 or so. I did recently order from them around Black Friday, and I got both the Maha Kali and Plantation Md to test their quality since it had been that I ordered from them.

1) Maha Kali is still a very effective pain killing red. Not as strong or as good as it used to be, but overall a very good strain that is still helpful for pain. I'd rate the pain relief a 9/10 whereas in 2017 it was a 10/10; 2) The Plantation MD is excellent! A fast strain, energetic and uplifting and also great pain relief. Both of these strains also had a very clean feeling and were well balanced

These strains are priced very high, but I bought them when they add 40% of sales (plus a sale from email), so I got them at normal prices after the sales reduced the total cost. I don't use these strains often because I know they are likely enhanced with extract, but I would buy them again when they go on sale again! With sale price, I think I paid like $15 or $17 for 100grams of each strain.

I feel like as long as the company lets the buyer know strains may be enhanced, than that is fine. I would hate to get a strain that was enhanced with extract and not be aware of it

[7ohm]

I"m not sure how I"d feel. Ultimately it is still kratom. If you believe that kratom is dose dependent and that all effects can be had by adjusting it, then it should be the same with extract. all you are doing is varying the levels of Mitragynine, something that you could do by simply taking less. Here's what we do now to try and get this lower level of mitragynine: put it in the sun, mix in stem and vein, put it in plastic bags. It might be the case that there's this magic level of Mitragynine that is ideal for the conversion to 7ohm to take place that is below the threshold of blocking opioid effect.

[TacomaGuy]

What concerns me the most is potentially dangerous pesticides being used on kratom.

[mivanqua]

What concerns me the most is potentially dangerous pesticides being used on kratom.

I don't think that's really a concern honestly. Who is going to climb 30 ft + up into a tree to spray pesticides on a product they are getting five dollars a kilo for? It's like spiked pot. That's an extra expense.