Is This Herbal Product Fueling The US’ Next Big Addiction Crisis?

As fewer Americans overdose from fentanyl, a new drug is taking the country by storm.

Kratom is an herbal substance derived from a plant found in Southeast Asia, Yale Medicine reported. While proponents have claimed kratom can bolster user’s moods and energy levels, experts warned the Daily Caller News Foundation that some kratom-related products can potentially lead to addiction, withdrawal symptoms and even overdose.

“It [kratom] is becoming more widespread both in reports of exposures and in sales,” Dr. Chris Holstege, a medical toxicologist at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine, told the DCNF. “During the past 11 years, U.S. poison centers received a total of 14,449 kratom exposure reports; the record high 3,434 reports in 2025 represent an increase of approximately 1,200% compared with the 258 reports in 2015. The number of calls in 2026 to U.S. poison centers have already surpassed the total number of exposures in 2025. This rapid increase in exposures is consistent with U.S. record kratom import volumes.”

“Kratom is an opioid and can have central nervous system depressive effects like other opioids, causing sedation, respiratory depression and death depending on the dose taken and depending on what other substances are taken with kratom,” Holstege continued. “Like other opioids, it can cause addiction to occur in those who use it chronically and there is a potential of withdrawal symptoms if chronic use is stopped.”

Kratom is currently legal in almost all U.S. states and is not federally regulated, per the University of Utah Health. Kratom also contains psychoactive compounds that interact with opioid receptors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Read more from “Is This Herbal Product Fueling The US’ Next Big Addiction Crisis?” HERE)