With kratom bans starting to roll out on Long Island, including Nassau County already passing one and Suffolk County holding a hearing on it just the other night, I, someone who spent a little too much time in a toxic relationship with kratom, have some thoughts.

And they also might not be what you’d expect.

Selfishly, I would love for kratom to be completely banned in my area. Truly. Nothing says peace of mind like removing your former vice from casual driving distance. It would definitely make the whole “don’t relapse” thing a little easier.

But realistically, I do think it’s possible for some people to use kratom responsibly.

I know. Shocking. Growth. Nuance. Annoying.

I don’t think all kratom is created equal though, and that is where a lot of this conversation gets messy. Whole leaf kratom, whether in capsules, powder, or brewed as tea, is very different from the concentrated extracts and especially the newer 7-OH products flooding smoke shops.

Whole leaf kratom tends to be milder and slower. People often use it for pain management, anxiety, or energy, and while it can absolutely still become a problem, hi hello me, it is generally not the same beast as extracts.

Some people also use kratom as harm reduction for opioid addiction, and I completely understand that argument. If something helps keep someone away from heroin or pain pill addiction, I am obviously not going to sit here and argue against harm reduction.

But I also think it can be a slippery slope, especially when something starts as “this is helping me stay off something worse” and quietly turns into its own full-blown dependency. Sometimes the substitute becomes the new problem.

Extracts are concentrated. Stronger, faster, and way easier to get hooked on because your tolerance shoots to the moon and suddenly your bank account is filing a restraining order.

Then there’s 7-OH, short for 7-hydroxymitragynine, which is basically kratom’s scary overachieving cousin. It is a much more potent alkaloid found in kratom, and now companies are isolating and selling it in highly concentrated forms. Translation: stronger effects, way higher addiction potential, and significantly more risk.

Personally, I think extracts and 7-OH should absolutely be banned.

I’m also very against the idea of promoting kratom to former alcoholics as an alcohol alternative because… hello? Addiction issues?

When I first quit drinking, local kava bars were honestly a haven for me. They hold a really special place in my heart. It was nice to have somewhere to go that wasn’t a bar, somewhere you could still socialize and feel vaguely like a normal member of society instead of a gremlin clutching a Diet Coke in the corner of someone’s birthday dinner.

And I have no problem with kava.

What I do have a problem with is kratom being casually pushed in those spaces as the “better” option for people in recovery.

I remember being warned about extracts at my local kava bar. People would say, “Don’t mess with extracts, they’ll get you.”

And they were right.

But it is also important to note that while I was being warned about extracts, they were still selling the very thing I would end up getting addicted to.

Because naturally, that same place is where I had my first Feel Free. You know, the little blue bottle.

If you know, you know.

So yes, there was technically a warning label, but there was also a refrigerator stocked with temptation sitting five feet away. A very “don’t do this… anyway that’ll be $9.95” kind of vibe.

That was the beginning of a full-blown nightmare and what I ultimately became utterly addicted to.

So yes, I have complicated feelings.

But it also makes me sad to think small local kava shops could end up shutting their doors because of broad kratom bans. Those places helped a lot of people, myself included. But at the same time, the industry absolutely opened the door for products that can be incredibly addictive and, in some cases, genuinely dangerous.

The landscape is changing though. There are way more soft bars and mocktail spaces opening now, which is honestly great. People want alternative social spaces, and now there are more options that don’t involve alcohol or a substance you accidentally develop a dependency on.

I also understand that some people use kratom as a natural pain remedy and genuinely do not struggle with addiction. I don’t think they should automatically be cut off just because some people, ahem me, cannot behave normally around it.

But I do think it’s good that more of the dangers are coming to light.

Frankly, it makes me feel less insane.

Like thank you. Validation. I would like the record to show that yes, this stuff can absolutely f*ck you up.

Because for a long time, talking about kratom addiction felt like trying to explain to people that your herbal tea ruined your life.

“Wait… like tea?”

Yes, Susan. Like tea.

Ultimately, I think it’s more nuanced than “kratom is bad” or “kratom is good.”

For me, it was terrible. It absolutely wrecked my life for a while.

But I can still see the other side of it.

Which, unfortunately, is much less satisfying than a dramatic black-and-white opinion, but probably a lot more honest.