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Hi, I'm Nicole McCall with the Epoch Times, one of America's largest independent newspapers. For today's report, our cultural reporter Janice Eisel sat down with a family from West Virginia to talk about their son's experience with Kratom, a potentially dangerous substance that's available at gas stations and convenience stores in the United States. We'll share their son's journey through addiction and explain the bigger debate around Kratom in today's episode. Show your support for independent journalism by following this podcast. Our story today starts with Cameron Francis and how a seemingly harmless alternative to alcohol led him down a long, dark road of addiction and recovery. At age 22, Cameron was a star athlete for Liberty University. He was featured on school posters for the cross country team. He liked to drink on the weekends with his friends, but his girlfriend at the time disapproved. So he started looking for an alternative to alcohol. And that's when Cameron first discovered something called Kratom, an imported opioid like substance that he bought online from California. Right away, he was amazed by it. He said it made him feel way better than alcohol and it even helped him focus on homework and test taking. It got to the point where Camera's friends were wondering why he was always sipping on his quote unquote tea at parties. What started off as a miraculous substitute for alcohol ended up becoming Cameron's downfall over the next eight years. So what exactly is Kratom? Let's go into that before getting back to Cameron's story. Kratom is a drug that comes from kratom trees in Southeast Asia, where locals have used it for centuries. Soldiers and Asian immigrants first brought it to the US after the Vietnam War, but it stayed pretty obscure for a long time. Then during the COVID pandemic, sales went up dramatically at stores because they moved online and the government restricted traditional opioid prescriptions. So why the demand for Kratom? Well, some people use it to manage pain and opioid withdrawal symptoms. Here's how it works. The DEA or Drug Enforcement Administration says that Kratom has two major psychoactive ingredients that cause opposite effects depending on the dosage. At lower dosages, Kratom works as a stimulant, but at higher dosages, it becomes a sedative. Some scientists say that we need more studies to really understand how Kratom can be beneficial or harmful. According to researchers from the University of Florida, Southeast Asians have been chewing or broiling the leaves for generations without reporting any major casualties. But here's the key difference. Users in the US and Europe are ingesting Kratom from processed forms like powders and pills and even mixing them with other substances. And that's what got Cameron Francis in serious trouble. By the way, here at the Epoch Times, my colleagues publish stories like these every day. So if you like our work, consider becoming a subscriber to our newspaper. Go to theepoctimes.com that's the epochtimes.com and hit the blue subscribe button at the top right or check the link in.
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The notes back to Cameron's story.
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His addiction began with Kratom, but things got out of control once alcohol became involved. For Cameron, competing in cross country was the main reason why he attended college. Once he started having major issues with his running coach and was going through a serious breakup with his girlfriend, he saw no reason to hold back on alcohol. He quit school, moved in with some friends to pursue music, but his life spiraled out of control. Cameron said he felt like garbage between the highs and that the Kratom had hijacked his brain, heart and soul. I would wake up and it would just be like every good chemical had been completely removed from my brain and the only solution was more, more alcohol, more Kratom, he said. As a result, he lost his job, went broke and even got into car wrecks. On December 1, 2019, two police officers showed up at Frances home to tell them that a vehicle registered to their address had wrecked head on into a tree nearby. Even then, Cameron was able to hide his Kratom addiction for two more years until he experienced a severe withdrawal because of the medication he was taking to help with alcohol. One night, Cameron knocked on his parents bedroom door. His body was shaking and contorting. His heart was racing. His mother rushed him to the hospital where Cameron finally admitted to the doctor that he was using Kratom. Interestingly, the doctor didn't know enough about the drug to fully treat him, so his parents searched until they finally found an answer at the Coleman Institute for Addiction Medicine. There, Cameron was able to go through a five day detoxification program specifically for Kratom, and he's continued to recover to this day. The journey is anything but easy. Cameron described withdrawal was the worst pain you could go through, both mentally and physically. That's why he has more compassion than ever on addicts. As he's met more and more addicts from similar backgrounds, he realized that addiction is not something you can just will your way out of.
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Instead, Cameron believes in compassion and kindness as a sort of cure and wants.
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People to understand that there are real people beneath the addiction who needs help.
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He hopes he can share his message through his own music someday. For Cameron's father, Dean Francis Gabriel, getting the message out there is not enough. Dean wants to see a nationwide ban on Kratom. He said that most buyers have no idea that if you get addicted, you risk losing years of your life to utter torment or worse. Federal agencies like the FDA or Food and Drug Administration have suggested more moderate regulation, especially for the Kratom related substance called 7OH. 7OH is created from a compound called 7OH that's naturally found in Kratom. It goes through chemical reactions and comes out with 500% more 7oH than kratom leaves. 7oH is also 13 times more powerful than morphine, according to the FDA. Even the American Kratom association, which favors safe and legal Kratom use, supports regulations on 7 oh. Dean Francis disagrees that any Kratom is safe and pointed out how the association has powerful connections.
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For example, Chairman Matt Solomon, who was an Arizona congressman for five terms. Also, Paul Pelosi Jr. Was the association's director in 2016, at the same time that his mother, Nancy Pelosi, was the House minority leader. Banning Kratom in the US could also cause billions of dollars in losses to the industry, according to a news release from Kratom Advocates. Still, Dean Francis isn't the only one in favor of a ban. Jennifer Gifford, the CEO of the treatment center where Carmen got his help, thinks all Kratom should be classified as Schedule 1. That's the most restricted category in the U.S. it's saved for drugs like heroin and marijuana. Gifford said Kratom is the reason for 40% of the clinic's clientele. That's eight times more than last year. For her, the issue comes down to how easy and misleading it is to buy kratom because 7oh is unregulated. The FDA has stated that even places like gas stations and convenience stores are, quote, risky places where kids can purchase these drugs as easily as finding candy.
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And Gifford has seen it for herself.
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She once asked a gas station employee.
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Whether the 7 oh they sold was addictive.
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She said the young man told her, quote, no, not at all. People love it so much that they will come in sometimes two or three times a day to buy it. What he said is true. Gifford knows patients who beat heroin addiction but then got addicted to 7 oh spending over $100 a day to avoid withdrawal, which they told her was worse than quitting heroin. So 7OH is easily available to Americans at gas stations and corner stores, and sellers often don't know what they're dealing with. That's why people who've seen its effects firsthand, like Jennifer Gifford and the Francis family, are pushing for regulation and using their stories as a wake up call for the country. Well, thanks for listening to our report. If you'd like to read it in detail, the link is in the notes. This is Nicole McCall with the EPIC Times. Don't forget to hit the follow button and we'll see you next time.