Drug or miracle drug? Indonesia benefits from the rise of kratom in the United States

PONTIANAK, Indonesia.- The Post of Pontianak can not handle the mountain of parcels destined to

United States

. This small town

Indonesia

It has become the capital of export of kratom, a shrub to which multiple benefits are attributed.

For a long time in South-East Asia, its leaves are consumed in infusion or crushed as opiate substitutes, as a cure for anxiety or as a recreational drug, that is to say for pleasant purposes in a social environment or cultural, according to its promoters.

US health authorities are worried about the increased use of this plant on their territory and feel that it has caused dozens of deaths in the United States. The fashion of kratom could also worsen the consumption of substances with effects similar to those of opium in the country, they add.

Due to growing demand in the mid-2000s, people in the Pontianak area devoted themselves to this crop and in just a few years the country has become the world's leading producer of kratom.

"About 90 percent of our parcels in the western province of Kalimantan are kratom sold in the United States," confirms post office manager Zaenal Hamid.

The United States is the main market for kratom, which is also consumed in Canada and Europe, where foreclosures are becoming increasingly important.

West Kalimantan exports about 400 tonnes of this green substance a month, according to 2016 data, a turnover of $ 130 million a year at the current price of $ 30 per kilo.

According to the American Kratom Association, which represents users, about five million Americans consume extracts from these leaves and this number is steadily increasing.

To meet demand, farmers in Kapuas Hulu, Indonesia, are abandoning the cultivation of rubber or palm oil to plant this shrub.

When a kratom deficit in the market caused prices to rise to $ 150 per kilogram between 2005 and 2006, farmers like Gusti Prab switched to kratom. It exports ten tons a month.

"The kratom market was very good in the last ten years and still has potential," he says.

In Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea, the leaves of this shrub, of the same family as coffee trees, have been used for centuries for their badgesic and slightly stimulating effects.

In the 2000s, exports took off thanks to the development of alternative medicine in

Europe

and in the United States.

It is sold in coffee shops or online as an infusion or capsules. Most clients are sourced through platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Chinese Alibaba.

Indonesia, which enforces one of the most stringent anti-drug laws in the world, bans the consumption of kratom, but allows its cultivation, as well as its export in the form of green powder. Malaysia and

Thailand

they allow the culture, but not the export.

The popularity of this substance is also of concern to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which has detected it in 31 countries.

In the United States, kratom is legal in 43 states. His advocates believe that it is an alternative to some drugs and that it can help fight opioid addiction.

Kratom stimulates the same brain receptors as morphine. "There is great potential as an badgesic and against opioid addiction," said Michael White, chief of the pharmacy department at the University of Connecticut. Some properties "that have not been proven," qualify.

"Kratom exposes consumers to the risk of addiction, abuse and dependence,"
warns the US agency responsible for drug regulation (FDA), citing several scientific studies.

AFP Agency