Kratom with Dr. Christopher McCurdy and Dr. Swathi Nadakuduti

In this episode I'm speaking with Dr. Christopher McCurdy and Dr. Swathi Nadakuduti about Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa). If you aren't familiar with this species, they are a tree from South-East Asia whose leaves have been chewed or brewed for a long time for a variety of reasons, but mostly used in a similar way to Coffee or Coca. More recently powdered leaves and live plants have been imported across the globe and have been used for similar uses as well as for treating pain, substituting for opioids and many other purposes. Between these 2 guests we cover traditional use, cultivation, chemical constituents, recent changes in the Kratom marketplace, and best practices for consumption. I was very impressed with their ability to speak on these topics utilizing their many years of primary research, but also in way that should be easily understood by most listeners. You can contact them through their faculty pages, or find their work on Google Scholar (Christopher / Swathi) or check out the website of the Nadakuduti Lab. The other podcasts I mention in the intro are: The Dugout, The Beautiful Idea. Thanks to MK for having me on The Child and It's Enemies. If you want to support this podcast, you can tell a friend to check it out, subscribe/rate/review on your favorite podcast platforms and/or join the Patreon. You can also submit questions or listener audio!