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InvisibleXochitl
synchronicitycircuit
Registered: 07/15/03
Posts: 1,241
Loc: the brainforest
bogus kratom market
    #2155592 - 12/03/03 02:38 PM (20 years, 3 months ago)

The kratom expose been in circulation for a few months now, but I thought the Entheogen Review article was quality and worthy of posting for those not in the loop. Enjoy :thumbup:

from the .pdf file found here: http://www.entheogenreview.com/Resources/bogus%20kratom%20arket%20exposed.pdf

URLs and email addresses removed. please see the original .pdf file for such information, instead - Xochitl


THE ENTHEOGEN REVIEW
NUMBER 1 VERNAL EQUINOX 2003


An increasing number of sources have been selling what they claim is dried leaf of Mitragyna speciosa, known by the common name kratom. Much of this material originated from Bruno Phillips, of Ebotashop, who says that it was sourced from Myanmar, Burma. Phillips and an individual who goes by the name of Farmer Hank were approaching numerous retailers of specialty ethnobotanicals and persuading them to carry this product. The material is being made into extract in the United States, described by different companies as ?kratom acetate,? ?mitragynine acetate,? and ?full-spectrum alkaloid freebase of kratom.?

One of the people to whom Phillips pitched the dried leaf material for resale was Daniel Siebert. Siebert astutely noticed that this leaf does not match the published description for the plant ? the venation pattern on the leaves was not right and the underside of the leaves was entirely covered in trichomes, giving the leaf a hairy appearance. According to the published botanical description for the leaf of this plant, the top is supposed to be glabrous (smooth), and the bottom has no trichomes present on the interneural parts of the lamina (Shellard & Lees 1965; Siebert 2003). Siebert suggested that it would be a good idea if I notified ER readers of this misidentified leaf material.

It has been suggested that over 100 kilos of this mystery herb may have been distributed by Phillips worldwide at prices ranging from $200.00 to $600.00 per kilo (Shaman Australis 2003); if this true, there is a lot of bad material on the market. Strangely, some people claim that this material is psychoactive in a manner similar to kratom. Others notice no activity at all. It has now been shown that this material is not kratom, both due to its incompatible botany and due to it not containing mitragynine, a target alkaloid unique to Mitragynaspeciosa. It would be interesting to know whether or not those who claim that this material has ?kratom-like? effects have ever tried properly identified kratom. One person who has tried both, commented to me that the bogus material ?hadsome sort of effect, though when comparing it to a small stash of kratom from Thailand I found in my freezer, it had none of the pleasant euphoria and mild rapture of attention, just asort of beside myself disconnected state? (B.K. 2003). A sec-Bogus Kratom Market Exposedby Jon Hannaond person familiar with the effects produced from real kratom commented on the bogus material, stating: ?We were sent samples a while back and were thoroughly unimpressed and questioned the validity of the sample? (A.C. 2003).

In order to help confirm that the material on the market was not actually kratom, I obtained a quantity of mitragynineethane disulphonate from Dennis McKenna to use as a reference standard for chemical analysis. There was concern that this material might have degraded, as it was around 14 years old. As an aside, it has been mentioned elsewhere that this reference standard was ?obtained from [a] specialty chemical supplier,? which is not the case, and I have also seen it posted to an online forum that this material was synthetically produced, which is incorrect. Hitomitsu Takayamaat the Chiba University in Japan was one of the first people to synthesize mitragynine in 1995 (Shulgin 2003), which was only eight years ago (clearly the 14-year-old sample could not have been produced by synthesis).

Just after I received the mitragynine ethane disulphonate, I was informed of a chemical supply company that offered a reference standard of mitragynine picrate (Shulgin 2003). So I also purchased 10 mg of mitragynine picrate from them for the hefty price of $250.00. Both forms of mitragynine were then distributed to several individuals who had an interest in analyzing the commercially available material.The first results came in from Siebert, who performed thin layer chromatography on several samples of known kratom, putative kratom, and the mitragynine reference standards. He noted: The mitragynine picrate and mitragynine ethanedisulphonate both reacted with Erlich?s reagent to produce pale purple spots on my TLC plates. Neither of these compounds [is] entirely pure. The TLC profiles of bothsamples were almost identical. Both produced two matching spots: one prominent spot (presumablymitragynine) and one smaller spot. The mitragynineethane disulphonate also produced a third clear spot that was smaller than the other two and several additionalvery faint spots. I was also able to visualize the com-pounds using UV light. The larger spot absorbs shortwave UV light. The smaller spots fluoresce bright yellow under long wave UV light.

Apparently mitragynine is reasonably stable, since the profile of the fourteen-year-old mitragynine ethane disulphonate was not substantially different than that of the recently procured mitragyninepicrate. I also examined ?kratom acetate? sold by Ethnogarden and leaves sent to me from France by Bruno. These leaves are allegedly from Myanmar (Burma). The ?kratom acetate? was supposedly isolated from leaves obtained from the [Burmese] source. Neither of these produced any visible indole spots on the plates when sprayed with Erlich?s reagent. And when exposed to UV light, there were no spots corresponding to those in the reference standards. It is very clear that these do not contain mitragynine. This is not particularly surprising since the morphology of the leaves indicates that they are not Mitragyna speciosa.

I also analyzed leaves grown by Native Habitat, Shaman Australis, and J.B. and also leaves obtained from?Thailand, and some leaves from an ?unknownsource? that were sent to me by Will Beifuss (probably[also from Thailand]). All of these produced spots that appear identical to the reference standards. In the case of the relatively fresh leaves obtained from Native Habitat, Shaman Australis, and J.B., a green chlorophyll pot largely obscures the mitragynine spot, making it difficult to see. I was not able to see this clearly until I xamined the chromatograms under UV light and compared them with the reference standards.

Additional results, this time from HPLC analysis, came in from MJB Botanicals, the U.S. company that had been producing the ?kratom acetate? extract from the bogus leaves, that was sold via them, Ethnogarden, and probably other vendors as well. They stated: Solvent: 95% MeOH 5 % H2O; Pressure: 1000 psi; Flow:1.5 ml/min; Column YMC-Pack ODS-AQ; S-5 Micron250 x 4.6 mm ID; 5 runs per sample; Run time 12 min-utes; Alkaloid salts were converted to freebase forms with ammonia. The mitragynine ethane disulphonate was very contaminated, with an average of 7 peaks, with the biggest always being approximately 5.7 minutes. This product is too contaminated or degraded to use as a true reference sample. The mitragynine picrate had 1 peak average, retention time of 1.6 minutes, with slight trailings being possible contaminates. The ?kratom acetate? had 3 peaks, with the largest being 2.3 minutes, and the others at 1.9 and 2.5 respectively, with no trailings. Yohimbe had 1 peak average, with retention time of 2.4 minutes, with no trailings. Melatonin (a tryptamine) had an average retention time of 3.8 minutes, with no trailings. So I can say that that the ?kratom acetate? does not contain mitragynine picrate or the other mitragynine compound. With the retention time being within 0.1 min of yohimbe, I would think that the active alkaloid might be a related compound or chemically similar.

Many companies that were known to have been offering the bogus leaf material or extract have been informed of these test results. Some companies have not at the time of this writing made any change in the manner in which they are selling the bogus material. Other companies are continuing to offer it (some under the name ?Mellow Gold?), noting that the identity of the material is actually unknown, but stating that it has ?kratom-like? effects. Based only on the few bioassays that I am aware of which were performed by people who have experienced the effects of real kratom, I would suggest here that to call the effects produced by this unknown material ?kratom-like? is inaccurate. In addition, although there have been no known or reported sideeffects from consuming the mystery herb or the extract made of it, it strikes me that it is irresponsible to continue marketing an herb that has not been identified - it could have chemicals in it that are carcinogenic or that cause liver damage, and the negative effects from ingesting these chemicals might not be apparent for some time.

One company appears to be claiming that the bogus material is some species of Mitragyna (which it may not be, and certainly isn?t known to be), although they have stopped selling it as M. speciosa. To add to the confusion, some people growing properly identified kratom plants have obtained no activity from the leaves whatsoever. Others growing clones of the same plant have pointed out that the potency can be quite variable.

I have arranged for HPLC analysis and GC/MS analysis to be done on various plant samples, to determine whether or not they contain mitragynine, and if so, how much is there. This testing will be reported on in a future issue of The Entheogen Review. (Not all of the companies that provided me samples have had their material tested yet.)

Microscopy work will be done on known kratom leaves, to create a database that will aid in proper identification of material that is offered commercially, hopefully helping to prevent scams in the future. I should state that I do not believe that any of the retailers selling the bogus material were aware that it was not authentic. The blame for this scam lies with Phillips/Ebotashop, the wholesaler who approached various retail companies with his so called ?kratom.? It has been said that he has refused to provide any refunds for those people to whom he sold the bogus material (Shaman Australis 2003). As well, it is known that he is still selling the bogus material even after he was informed that it is not correctly identified. So, even if he was originally selling it by error himself (not knowing that it was misidentified), this can no longer be stated. It is still listed as being available at the Ebotashop web page. Some sales of Phillips? material were originally being brokered through Sebastian Torres (Kitzu Botanicals). However, Torres stopped facilitating such sales when he learned that the material was incorrectly identified, and Farmer Hank has also stopped selling the bogus material.Those companies that are selling properly identified Mitragyna speciosa plants include Shaman Australis, The Basement Shaman, Theatrum Botanicum, and Native Habitat. This does not necessarily mean that all of these companies are selling plants that are potent or even active; Native Habitat has previously commented on the inactivity of the plants that they have. It is currently thought that climate may have an affect on the plant?s chemistry, and per-haps a change in climate may increase the potency of their plants. At this time I can not recommend purchasing kratom from any business other than those mentioned directly above. In the future I will provide names of any additional companies that are known to be selling dried kratom that tests positive for mitragynine.

So far as I am aware, there has been no definitive study in humans that shows that mitragynine is the primary active chemical in Mitragyna speciosa, although there have been studies with mice which seem to indicate that it might be (Idid et al. 1998). The sole known oral bioassay of 100 mgmitragynine produced no effects (Wogg 2000). In the 1960s,over 22 alkaloids were reported isolated from Mitragyna speciosa (Jansen & Prast 1988). A few of the alkaloids found therein include speciogynine, speciociliatine, paynantheine,mitragynaline, 7-hydroxymitragynine, corynantheidaline, 3-dehydromitragynine, tetrahydromitragynine, mitralactonal,mitrasulgyline, mitralactonine, and 9-methoxymitral-actonine?the last five of these are new as of 1998, and the last two are from young leaves (Shulgin 2003). Clearly morework needs to be done with the plant; the isolation and quantification of chemicals from plants that are known to be potent would be a good first step. Bioassaying each of these compounds individually in amounts that are found in a comparable amount of a ?dose? of active leaf would get us a lot closer to understanding what is going on. Hopefully someone with access to some quantity of potent leaf and the means to extract and isolate the compounds therein will employ the ?Heffter technique? in the near future.There has been some small amount of noise (mainly repeatedby vendors of kratom or the bogus material) that in Thailand where Mitragyna speciosa grows, and where it is illegal, the government has had a change of heart and is planning to make it legal in order to treat addictions. I have been unable to locate any reliable source of data for this claim. Also I have heard that the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration(their version of the FDA) is planning on placing the chemical mitragynine into their ?Schedule 4.? This schedule would mean that the plant and dried herb are still legal, so long as they are not being consumed or sold for consumption (Shaman Australis 2003). Frankly, it is mind-boggling that a government agency in Australia has set its sights on this chemical, which may not even be psychoactive in humans, which has never been available in pure form to the masses, and hence which can not reasonably be considered a ?drug of abuse? in any realistic sense. As well, it has been reported that the Malaysian National Narcotics Agency engaged a botanist last year to conduct a study to determine if kratom should be classified there as a dangerous drug (Yahya 2002).

I would like to thank all of the vendors and individuals who supplied me with leaf material for analysis, including Shaman Australis, Native Habitat, The Basement Shaman, Herbal-Shaman, B.K. & Rick, Craig, and Pure Land Ethnobotanicals. Thanks also to Dennis McKenna and Sasha Shulgin for their help with this project, to MJB Botanicals for providing material and sharing their test results, to Will Beifuss who supplied initial funds to purchase the second reference standard and shared material for testing, and many thanks to Daniel Siebert for bringing this scam to my attention in the first place, for providing material for testing,and for sharing his test results.

Regarding the article ?Bogus Kratom Market Exposed? on pages 26?28. Since this was written, Bruno Phillips has finally responded to the data about this scam that was posted at the Shaman Australis web page that he was the victim in this scam, and states that he never charged more than $200.00 a kilo for the bogus herb, although he also says that his ?partner sold the herb as he wanted? so perhaps this is where the higher prices that were reported came from. Phillips web page no longer lists the kratom as being available, although it did still list it as available when the article was written a couple of weeks ago, well after he knew that the herb as misidentified. Based on the chronology of events, it would appear as though he only took this offering off of his web page after the scam was exposed at the Shaman Australis site. Phillips has also mentioned a single wholesaler to whom he refunded money, making it sound as though he does plan to offer refunds to those who were sold bad product. If true, this is great ? although we would suggest that he should automatically send a refund payment immediately to everyone that he sold this herb to. We encourage any botanical supplier who has purchased the bogus kratom recently from Phillipsto demand a refund, and we also encourage any individuals who have purchased bogus kratom recently from retailers to demand refunds. Another correction to this article is due: it turns out that Australia does plan to ban the plant Mitragynaspeciosa, as well as the chemical mitragynine (mentioned in the article). Finally, qualitative testing (comparison to a pure reference standard of mitragynine picrate) done by Daniel Siebert recently revealed that the dried kratom leaf offered by Pure Land Ethnobotanicals is indeed correctly identified. This company appears to currently be the sole source for imported dried leaf.

?Errata and Addendum       


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As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know.

-Donald Rumsfeld 2/2/02 Pentagon

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InvisibleXochitl
synchronicitycircuit
Registered: 07/15/03
Posts: 1,241
Loc: the brainforest
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: Xochitl]
    #2155649 - 12/03/03 02:54 PM (20 years, 3 months ago)

The faux-kratom has been tentatively identified as mitragyna parviflorum, by the way.


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As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know.

-Donald Rumsfeld 2/2/02 Pentagon

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Offlinepoppy_smirf
ambitious

Registered: 11/08/03
Posts: 33
Last seen: 19 years, 11 months
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: Xochitl]
    #2158593 - 12/04/03 03:21 PM (20 years, 3 months ago)

cant say ive tried the real kratom but the fake stuff "mellow gold acetate" isnt really that bad though, it made me stress free and nice and lazey.

like floating on cloud nine

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Offlineblazed123
Bing

Registered: 10/21/04
Posts: 831
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: poppy_smirf]
    #7716140 - 12/04/07 03:54 PM (16 years, 3 months ago)

That's a really old claim. There's realy nothing to worry about if anyone's concerned. Parvifolia actually has a different taste and thicker leaves. It's easy to tell the difference. It's now become more of a marketing ploy for vendors who have the "true" species. The irony is it's probably harder to find the fake than the true stuff.

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Invisiblecpw1971
Mr
Male User Gallery
Registered: 10/07/06
Posts: 5,615
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: blazed123]
    #7716265 - 12/04/07 04:30 PM (16 years, 3 months ago)

thats a really old thread you replied to.
  the real stuff has been going around for a while now :cool:

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OfflineDr. uarewotueat
Peyote Farmer
Male User Gallery

Registered: 09/02/06
Posts: 16,545
Loc: Uk / Philippines
Last seen: 10 years, 7 months
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: cpw1971]
    #7716278 - 12/04/07 04:32 PM (16 years, 3 months ago)

ridiculous... only 4 years out of date.


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View My Gallery

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Offlineblazed123
Bing

Registered: 10/21/04
Posts: 831
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: Dr. uarewotueat]
    #7718066 - 12/05/07 12:03 AM (16 years, 3 months ago)

HAhaha wtf? That was in the main forum...I swear. Now I feel like a douche.

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OfflineOphanim
The Molecule'sSpirit
Male


Registered: 10/01/07
Posts: 1,002
Last seen: 6 years, 21 hours
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: blazed123]
    #7725372 - 12/06/07 05:08 PM (16 years, 3 months ago)

Sorry, that was me that bumped it... I forgot I found it via a search and somehow thought I'd just stumbled on to it. When I saw the date I deleted my reply.

My bad.

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Offlineblazed123
Bing

Registered: 10/21/04
Posts: 831
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: Ophanim]
    #7725784 - 12/06/07 07:03 PM (16 years, 3 months ago)

Thatnks for not leaving me hanging bro! :thumbup: Haha

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InvisiblePsychoChipmunk
Small, Furry, Disturbed

Registered: 01/08/05
Posts: 389
Loc: A hole in your back yard
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: blazed123]
    #7729300 - 12/07/07 03:40 PM (16 years, 3 months ago)

This isn't completely untimely- recently there has been some 'bunk' kratom going around. The kratom in question is being marketed as Bali/commercial and is not only extremely low in potency, but also is adulterated with fine silica/sand. A lot of people have ended up with large bags of nearly useless sandy crap, its created a stir among the kratom using community. There's more info about this over at kratomforum.com


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\m/

Edited by royer9864 (12/08/07 05:10 AM)

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OfflineZenClarity
SpiralOfChange
Male


Registered: 01/06/10
Posts: 951
Last seen: 13 years, 17 days
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: Xochitl] * 1
    #11800695 - 01/10/10 08:53 AM (14 years, 2 months ago)

Everyone in someway or another is trying to get their hands on money, that's usually how the world works. One source brings it all in, others try and cut in about how it's not the "real deal" or "fake".. and its not hard to see why. I get tired of seeing this information with no hard results behind it.

I was a pretty heavy opiate addict... and what I get from my supplier. Well lets just say I spend $40 a month instead of in a day now. Thanks but like I told the last person, it's going to take more than that he said she said stuff as it's the same vague information re-worded, nothing more. All I know is it works as described, and it works for me, and it's some kind of natural leaf when i order it. Close enough what ever the hell people are calling it. I like the "fake" stuff just fine.  :wink: I'd love to give out my source, but with this trash going around, I see no need to bring them any harm. This is the kind of talk that's going to get it banned altogether.


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OfflineCactusdan
Patecatl
Male User Gallery


Registered: 10/11/07
Posts: 7,024
Loc: Oregon
Last seen: 3 years, 4 months
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: ZenClarity]
    #11800775 - 01/10/10 09:20 AM (14 years, 2 months ago)

2yo bump mate.

Welcome to the Shroomery, and please take a few seconds to look over the EG rules.

:thumbup:


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InvisibleKBG1977
Registered: 08/23/08
Posts: 11,017
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: Cactusdan]
    #11800801 - 01/10/10 09:31 AM (14 years, 2 months ago)

AHAHAHAHA:hehehe::killerrabbit:

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InvisiblePoC
Relax
Male User Gallery


Registered: 03/10/04
Posts: 2,142
Re: bogus kratom market [Re: KBG1977]
    #11802582 - 01/10/10 02:53 PM (14 years, 2 months ago)

Ultra double bump!


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