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BlackWidow


Registered: 09/25/11
Posts: 2,395
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Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma
#19403840 - 01/11/14 01:19 PM (10 years, 19 days ago) |
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Take action: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=19403664&page=0&vc=1#19403664
Quote:
The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics wants you to check your children's online purchases for a popular drug. It's called Kratom.. and it's a growing trend that's already sent one Oklahoma to the hospital.
Right now, kratom is legal in Oklahoma, and you can get your hands on it at some convenience stores and especially online. There have only been a few cases in the state so far, but officials say things like this grow quickly. "We've had a few parents call and say their kids got some of the capsules at school or at a convenience store," says Mark Woodward, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
"It's simply an extract from a tree in Southeast Asia," says Woodward. He says the leaves of the tree can be made into everything from a liquid to a pill. Users say it's the legal form of heroin, with hallucinogenic effects like LSD.
"At lower doses, it has somewhat of a stimulant-type effect," says Scott Schaeffer, the Managing Director of the Oklahoma Poison Center. Recently, users are taking high doses, two to three pills at a time, several times a day.
"That causes more of an opposite effect- more like a sedative effect, like someone who just took a fistful of very strong painkillers," says Woodward.
"It honestly feels like I took about 40- to 60-milligrams of Oxycontin," says a man on YouTube, after he taking several of the pills.
In the past decade, the Oklahoma Poison Center says it's received maybe two calls about kratom, but recently the calls started growing. "Two of them were adults that used kratom, and one of them ended up in the emergency room," says Schaeffer.
"Just because it's sold in a gas station or purchased online does not mean it's safe," stresses Woodward. Like many drugs, kratom can have different effects on different people. "Kids can get a false sense of security. They may have a kid at a party take two or three and he has a benign effect. Another kid may have a very relaxing effect, and then a third kid takes the same amount and winds up in the hospital from dizziness, confusion, vomiting," says Woodward.
Also, the drug isn't regulated, so you never really know exactly what you're getting. "It's a natural product, so you don't necessarily know how much active ingredient is in the batch that you purchased or got ahold of," says Schaeffer.
Kratom is on the Federal Watchlist, but OBN plans to have the Governor sign off on a bill making it an illegal substance by May. Woodward says it hasn't become a big problem in the state yet, but they want to cut it off before it can. "It's just a matter of time before two kids tell four kids, who tell eight kids about what websites to visit, before it does become an issue," says Woodward. He says there are also concerns the drug could be used as a date-rape drug because of its sedative qualities.
If your children order things online, the experts recommend checking their packages so you know exactly what's coming into your home.
To contact the Oklahoma Poison Center, call 1-800-222-1222.
If you have tips on where kratom is being sold, or any information that can help the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, call 1-800- 522-8031.
Source: http://www.okcfox.com/story/24420931/growing-drug-trend-reaches-oklahoma
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36fuckin5
Alchemycologist


Registered: 08/11/03
Posts: 12,079
Loc: Diving into Mystical Territori...
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: BlackWidow] 2
#19403973 - 01/11/14 01:52 PM (10 years, 19 days ago) |
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Wow. I hated OK before, but this is ridiculous.
-------------------- Redd Foxx said: If you're offended I don't give a shit and don't come see me no more. Pat The Bunny said: A punk rock song won't ever change the world, but I can tell you about a couple that changed me. bodhisatta said: i recommend common sense and figuring it out. These are the TEKs I use. They're all as cheap and easy as possible, just like your mom.
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FungiJB
smot poker



Registered: 05/29/12
Posts: 174
Last seen: 4 years, 10 months
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: BlackWidow]
#19403986 - 01/11/14 01:57 PM (10 years, 19 days ago) |
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Quote:
BlackWidow said: Take action: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=19403664&page=0&vc=1#19403664
Quote:
and it's a growing trend that's already sent one Oklahoma to the hospital.
Wow, one whole oklahoma? That must have been some powerful kratom
--------------------
Source pictures of this beauty http://imgur.com/a/RJ2Y5#jVEwX
Edited by FungiJB (01/11/14 01:59 PM)
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BlackWidow


Registered: 09/25/11
Posts: 2,395
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: FungiJB]
#19404026 - 01/11/14 02:04 PM (10 years, 19 days ago) |
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I'm glad not the only one who caught that. Just goes to show you how intelligent the people who are "informing" the public really are.
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fireshaman
Botanist



Registered: 08/31/07
Posts: 961
Last seen: 5 months, 5 days
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: BlackWidow]
#19404360 - 01/11/14 03:27 PM (10 years, 19 days ago) |
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There's other huge things coming down the pipe in terms of kratom.
My theory is that the US gov't has pressure Indonesia to make kratom added to their list of death penalty drugs!
The Indo gov't has said they intend to study it first prior to banning it, but Indo is a place where you can be raided for having premarital relations with your own girlfriend! It's a very conservative nation. The problem is that Indo supplies about 95% of the market, so if they are cut off the remaining supply will not be able to support the demand. Also complicating things is the fact it take so long for the plant to mature. A really bad shit storm.
Another vendor I know, told me that the US Homeland security officer that visited his shop told him they were working on getting it outlawed in Indo! Bad news =(
I guess folks coming off pills and H will have fewer legal safe options! Thanks gov't! Now junkies will have "safe" things like suboxone and methodone. Okay I'm kidding those will kill a person and are as addictive or more addictive than the junk folks are trying to quit. I guess a serious junky can still go out to Mexico for ibogaine, but I'd rather a person have more options. Kratom works for many other serious illnesses too. It's possible that the US gov't realized that kratom has so many medical applications they wouldn't have a chance to make it schedule 1 here, so just did the shortcut and made it illegal in Indo, where we pull the stings with huge influxes of 'Aid $', which buy sway.
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Synthe
Gatorade me, bitch!



Registered: 11/10/12
Posts: 7,961
Loc: Three bags of Funyuns
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: BlackWidow]
#19404464 - 01/11/14 03:57 PM (10 years, 19 days ago) |
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Quote:
Users say it's the legal form of heroin, with hallucinogenic effects like LSD.

Quote:
To contact the Oklahoma Poison Center, call 1-800-222-1222.
Quote:
They may have a kid at a party take two or three and he has a benign effect
Two or three whats? Two or three kratoms? I suppose journalists aren't known for their grammar abilities.
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Big_Dave


Registered: 07/07/13
Posts: 393
Loc: DC burbs
Last seen: 5 months, 14 days
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: Synthe]
#19405256 - 01/11/14 06:47 PM (10 years, 19 days ago) |
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Good god. How many lies can they fit into one article?
I like how they compare it to acid and heroin at the same time. Wtf? I would compare a strong dose to maybe 15mg oxy. MAYBE. And thats a big maybe. Like 3 beers strong but cleaner feeling.
Edited by Big_Dave (01/11/14 06:53 PM)
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DrugsRGood
Analytical Anarchist



Registered: 07/10/09
Posts: 689
Loc: Earth
Last seen: 7 years, 6 months
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: Big_Dave]
#19406527 - 01/12/14 01:05 AM (10 years, 19 days ago) |
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Yes, Oklahoma, you aren't insane.
-------------------- Life is an adventure; not knowing what's ahead brings a great sense of anticipation; and meeting women is the reward.
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tripp23
Kratom Freak



Registered: 05/21/08
Posts: 4,030
Loc: Florida, US
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: DrugsRGood]
#19407905 - 01/12/14 11:15 AM (10 years, 19 days ago) |
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Spam them with emails. Its the only way
-------------------- Experience my nightmarish first time of smoking Ganja!

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Whitewater



Registered: 11/02/09
Posts: 500
Loc: Midwest
Last seen: 5 years, 8 months
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: BlackWidow]
#19409880 - 01/12/14 07:54 PM (10 years, 18 days ago) |
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It's so sad people read this stuff and believe it.
It seems like its only a matter of time before another plant gets outlawed...
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Joker Flash


Registered: 04/11/13
Posts: 334
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: BlackWidow]
#19420024 - 01/14/14 10:19 PM (10 years, 16 days ago) |
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Fuck no! This is an ignorant decision that clearly reflects the ignorance of the lawmakers.
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Yippie
Happystance


Registered: 09/17/08
Posts: 260
Last seen: 8 years, 6 days
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: BlackWidow]
#19424690 - 01/15/14 08:24 PM (10 years, 15 days ago) |
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A follow-up article was done do to the persistence of a few people in OKC...
Users Fight Back
Kratom users fight back Posted: Jan 15, 2014 7:21 PM CST Updated: Jan 15, 2014 7:21 PM CST By: Kisha Henry, Weekend Anchor - bio | email
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - It's been called "the legal form of heroin." You can find it on gas station shelves or online, but now the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is trying to ban it. After our first story on kratom, many viewers contacted us, saying it's helpful... not harmful.
Kratom comes from a plant in Southeast Asia. It can be made into many forms-- an herbal tea, pills, or a liquid extract. Regardless of what form it's in, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics wants it banned. A pile of viewer emails shows many of you strongly disagree.
"It's just not fair to responsible adults that can use it for good purposes," says Rachel Hicks, a kratom-user. Hicks says she uses kratom in its natural form. She makes it into a tea once each month for severe menstrual symptoms. She says she's seen chronic pain, arthritis, and anxiety become manageable thanks to kratom. "I think it's a very good natural remedy for menstrual symptoms-- bloating, cramping, irritability. I think prescription drugs are a lot stronger than just this mild, herbal tea," she says.
Mark Woodward with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics disagrees. "One of the largest exporters of kratom around the world is the country of Thailand, and even Thailand has banned the use and sale of it because of the problems they've seen," says Woodward. Kratom is not federally regulated. The bottom of the back of a "Black Flame Kratom" bottle bought at a local smoke shop reads-- "These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to cure, treat, or prevent any disease." Woodward says, until it's Federally proven that kratom has any medical benefit, he plans to ban it. "In places where it is available, kids are ending up in the hospital after using it," he says. Though kratom has been around for years, only recently did people become hospitalized, including one Oklahoman, after learning that large doses create a high.
"In my experience, if I take too much of the tea, it causes nausea, so I think it doesn't have much of an abusive potential," says Hicks. "To me, it's very mild and relaxing. I've taken hydrocodone after surgery before and it's even more mild than that," she says. Though she doesn't believe it can be abused, a quick search of YouTube shows people are.
"It honestly feels like I took about 40 to 60 grams of oxycontin," says a guy during his YouTube video, after claiming to have taken several kratom pills.
"I definitely rate OPM's Kratom a 10 out of 10. I'm John. Peace out, stay high," says another YouTube user.
Despite the YouTube videos, Hicks doesn't think the bad choices of others should affect the group as a whole. She wants to see parents educate their kids on kratom instead of banning it for everyone. "I come from two very abusive, alcoholic parents, and I'm not saying that nobody should be able to drink alcohol because of that," says Hicks.
But, Woodward says, even though it isn't a widespread problem right now in Oklahoma, he plans to stop it before it becomes one. "We want to be on the front end of this and attack it before it starts becoming widely available in every gas station," he says.
"Banning it is too much in haste before we do more research on it. I definitely agree that it should be regulated when it comes to children. I think parents should take the responsibility to educate their children about this plant. But, a straight-out ban would prevent further scientific research. We think it's just not fair to punish responsible adults for using it because some kids might be abusing it," says Hicks.
Woodward says it could take years for a pharmaceutical company to do the necessary testing, and he doesn't want to see more Oklahomans hospitalized while they figure out whether it's safe or not. "You've got a balancing act here, between balancing possible benefits for some people versus the potential public safety risk of people abusing this. We recognize a danger now. We recognize a product with no accepted medical value, but a high potential for abuse. We need to address it now. How many potential hundreds, if not thousands of people, especially kids may end up in the hospital or potentially dead because of this product while we wait to see what it might do. Until it goes through the same rigors of other medicine and they weigh the benefits and side-effects, and are able to measure it, dose it, and treat it like traditional medicine, then we cannot call it medicine," says Woodward.
"There have been no reported deaths or overdoses on marijuana or kratom," counters Hicks.
"That's not a testimony to the safeness of this product. It's a testimony to the fact that it's not widely available right now," says Woodward. And, he says he plans to ban it before it's widely distributed in all gas stations in Oklahoma. He says, if in the future it is federally regulated, they will properly reschedule kratom, but until then, they're working with legislators to ban it.
Kratom users have started a petition to keep kratom legal. Click here to check it out.
To learn more about kratom, click here.
-------------------- "Just living molecule to molecule"
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Joker Flash


Registered: 04/11/13
Posts: 334
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: Yippie]
#19424883 - 01/15/14 09:00 PM (10 years, 15 days ago) |
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Quote:
Woodward said: "Basically we enforce the big pharm's monopoly. Unless they decide to sell it, you won't have it. I'm under orders from my superiors to counter any rational arguments with shortsighted hypotheticals presented by, big surprise, big pharm."
I paraphrased it for everyone.
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King Klick
That Guy Everyone Knows



Registered: 11/13/11
Posts: 7,267
Last seen: 6 months, 30 days
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Re: Possible Kratom Ban in Oklahoma [Re: fireshaman]
#19428796 - 01/16/14 03:45 PM (10 years, 14 days ago) |
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Quote:
fireshaman said: There's other huge things coming down the pipe in terms of kratom.
My theory is that the US gov't has pressure Indonesia to make kratom added to their list of death penalty drugs!
The Indo gov't has said they intend to study it first prior to banning it, but Indo is a place where you can be raided for having premarital relations with your own girlfriend! It's a very conservative nation. The problem is that Indo supplies about 95% of the market, so if they are cut off the remaining supply will not be able to support the demand. Also complicating things is the fact it take so long for the plant to mature. A really bad shit storm.
Another vendor I know, told me that the US Homeland security officer that visited his shop told him they were working on getting it outlawed in Indo! Bad news =(
I guess folks coming off pills and H will have fewer legal safe options! Thanks gov't! Now junkies will have "safe" things like suboxone and methodone. Okay I'm kidding those will kill a person and are as addictive or more addictive than the junk folks are trying to quit. I guess a serious junky can still go out to Mexico for ibogaine, but I'd rather a person have more options. Kratom works for many other serious illnesses too. It's possible that the US gov't realized that kratom has so many medical applications they wouldn't have a chance to make it schedule 1 here, so just did the shortcut and made it illegal in Indo, where we pull the stings with huge influxes of 'Aid $', which buy sway.
Well then it's up to us as the user to keep the plant in surplus. Grow yer own!
-------------------- Your god is dead, and I killed him. When you’re lost, here I am. Forever with your soul
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