When Cameron Francis was a 22-year-old Christian private university student, he thought he had found a nearly magical and harmless alternative to alcohol. As an athlete featured in Liberty University’s cross-country team posters, Francis was dedicated to his sport. However, he would occasionally indulge in a few drinks with friends, much to his teetotaler girlfriend’s dismay.
Seeking a way to better fit in at weekend parties, Francis turned to the internet for alternatives. “That’s when I came across kratom,” Francis told The Epoch Times.
He now regrets his discovery – it was eight years ago when he first encountered the substance, derived from a tropical evergreen plant, with effects similar to opioids.
At the time, kratom was relatively unknown in the United States. It wasn’t until 2018 that the federal government began investigating its use, a year after Francis first encountered it.
Since then, the prevalence, supply, and controversy surrounding kratom products in the market have significantly increased.
In 2016, due to strong opposition from kratom supporters, a nationwide ban proposal was blocked. However, over 20 states have since listed products containing kratom as illegal or restricted.
This summer, federal agencies took action to ban a synthetic kratom-like product due to concerns about its toxicity and addiction risks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that the product, 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), is 13 times more potent than morphine.
According to ACS Lab, a federally authorized laboratory, these commercial products are synthesized through complex chemical reactions, using a 7-OH compound based on kratom, with 500% higher 7-OH content than naturally grown kratom leaves.
Currently, unregulated products containing 7-OH have made gas stations and convenience stores dangerous places where children can easily purchase these drugs, according to the FDA.
Although industry support groups like the American Kratom Association acknowledge the need for stronger regulation, they argue that lower potency kratom products are safe and should continue to be legally sold.
Francis shares that even these milder kratom products are dangerous based on his experience.
In the U.S., any form of kratom has not been approved by the government for medical use, yet millions of people consume it.
When searching for an alcohol substitute, Francis learned that people in Southeast Asia have been chewing and brewing kratom leaves from the Mitragyna speciosa tree for centuries. Users have reported almost no adverse effects, praising its stimulating, pain-relieving, and mood-enhancing benefits.
After the Vietnam War, kratom made its way to the U.S. through returning soldiers and Asian immigrants. Recent years have seen a surge in kratom sales due to the rise of online shops, the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid addiction crisis, and government restrictions on opioid prescriptions.
Francis recalls the first time he tried powdered kratom, which he ordered from California. Mixing the powder with water, he found the taste “absolutely awful,” but the comfort it brought far surpassed any sensation from alcohol.
The effects of kratom amazed him. In school, kratom helped him focus on completing assignments and exams.
At gatherings, friends curiously asked why he willingly drank his “tea” – actually a concoction with kratom.
“They had no idea that no matter what alcohol did for them, it didn’t even come close to what this did for me,” he said.
However, the green powder ultimately became not his secret weapon but his poison.
Francis and his parents shared his experience with The Epoch Times as a warning.
A treatment center in Virginia that once helped Francis has seen an influx of kratom addiction patients recently. The center’s CEO, together with Francis’s father, is pushing for a nationwide ban on kratom.
Meanwhile, kratom supporters and some scientists argue that more research is needed to understand its potential benefits or harms.
Kratom remains a botanical mystery; researchers still do not fully understand its effects.
A scientific review published in 2020 stated that the plant contains over 40 natural chemical compounds, forming a mixture of “psychoactive alkaloids.” Alkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds.
Scientists at the University of Florida stated in 2020 that the natural product is like an orchestra, with each alkaloid playing a key role in the overall effect.
Dr. Kirsten Elin Smith, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who specializes in kratom, stated in a 2025 report that its pharmacological properties are quite unique and affect multiple body systems.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stated that kratom contains “two main psychoactive components,” which can trigger conflicting reactions in users’ brains.
The DEA mentioned that low doses of kratom act as stimulants, while high doses produce sedative effects, possibly leading to “psychiatric symptoms and psychological and physiological dependence.”
Scientists at the University of Florida have been studying its risks and its potential efficacy in relieving pain and alleviating opioid withdrawal symptoms.
Dean Francis, Cameron Francis’s father, told The Epoch Times that discussions of such studies have not changed his view on kratom.
He said, “Supporters of kratom talk about laboratory studies to mask the potential high-risk addiction hazards. Its mechanism is no different from opioid drugs, enough to destroy people’s lives. The problem is: most buyers are clueless about it.”
He pointed out that kratom has strong supporters.
The chair of the American Kratom Association’s board is Matt Salmon, a former five-term Arizona congressman; in 2016, Paul Pelosi Jr., son of Democratic California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, served as the association’s director. Supporters of kratom release statements showing that kratom has grown into a billion-dollar industry.
The association did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment, but on its website, it claims to be “committed to protecting the rights of all Americans to consume safe kratom legally, for better management of their overall health and well-being.”
Dean Francis rejects the notion of kratom being safe.
He said, “Regardless of research findings, one fact remains unchanged: once addicted, it will take years to endure extreme torture and even worse consequences.”
Florida researchers noted that Southeast Asians have been using kratom for generations, with “no reports of significant casualties.” However, Western countries report increasing problems associated with kratom.
Researchers believe this may be due to differences in dietary habits and the types of products used.
Asian users chew or brew kratom leaves, while American and European users consume processed kratom – including powder, concentrated extracts, pills, and capsules.
Additionally, U.S. users tend to mix kratom with other substances, similar to Francis’s experience.
After conflicting with a new coach and breaking up with his girlfriend, Francis felt no reason to restrain from drinking alcohol. He was surprised to find that mixing alcohol with kratom enhanced his pleasure.
“It was incredible,” he recalled his thoughts at the time. He said he became thoroughly addicted.
His craving for kratom and alcohol began to dominate his life. In moments of extreme excitement, he felt “like trash.”
“Waking up, feeling like all good chemicals in my brain were drained… the only solution was to drink more alcohol, use more kratom,” he said.
He felt he could not function normally without these substances. To purchase them, he depleted all his savings while struggling to run his budding video production company.
Francis said he experienced accidents, job loss, and conflicts with the police, eventually facing criminal charges.
These behaviors were not in line with his character. “This is not me, not the real me,” he said. He grew up in a Christian family with loving, supportive parents and four siblings.
Now, Francis says kratom has “hijacked” his brain, mind, and soul, altering the course of his life.
Asked if he would try kratom again if he knew the potential for addiction, he emphatically said, “No, no, no, no, I would never touch it.” He added, “I really wish I could go back to the days when I didn’t know what kratom was or what that euphoria felt like.”
His parents feel the same way.
Sarah Francis, a full-time homemaker who loved cheering for her son Cameron Francis at his university track meets, described Cameron as a dedicated and high-achieving distance runner.
However, things took a sudden turn during his junior year. “He was performing poorly,” she said. He crossed the finish line absentmindedly.
In a heart-to-heart conversation with his father, Cameron admitted to major conflicts with a new coach and revealed that running track was the main reason he attended college.
After understanding the severity of the conflicts, Dean Francis, who also attended Liberty University, told his son he could drop out to pursue his dream of music production.
Relieved, Cameron Francis left school in 2018, his senior year. According to his parents, he planned to work in music performance or production, often playing the keyboard and guitar for hours at a time. However, in the months after leaving school, he still lived in a house off-campus with friends.
“He wasn’t in school, wasn’t in sports, wasn’t working, there was plenty of time,” his mother said.
After a few months of his son moving back home, an unsettling incident revealed his alcohol problem.
On December 1, 2019, in the early hours of the morning, two policemen arrived at the Francis residence where a vehicle registered at the address had crashed into a tree nearby.
The police wanted to ensure the missing driver was safe; they often associated such a situation with alcohol.
Subsequently, after consultations with a family pastor and attendance at anonymous alcoholics’ meetings, all interventions proved ineffective.
Nearly two years of agony later, an emergency room visit revealed the real culprit – a doctor’s trial of a new therapy that uncovered the problem.
Prescribed with Naltrexone, a drug that reduces cravings for alcohol or opioids by blocking chemical reactions in the brain, Cameron Francis and his parents still believed his main issue was alcohol, not kratom.
They did not know that Naltrexone would interact with kratom, “blocking receptors in the brain, preventing pleasure,” according to Dean Francis.
This triggered a “complete withdrawal response, very dangerous,” he added.
Trembling and convulsing, Cameron Francis knocked on his parents’ bedroom door. His heart was racing wildly, and his mother rushed him to the hospital.
Identifying the withdrawal symptoms, emergency doctors asked about any substance abuse.
Upon Cameron Francis revealing his kratom use, doctors were perplexed. Sarah Francis said the doctors even needed to “go look it up” before providing treatment.
She and her husband then guided their son to seek various resources, eventually finding a treatment center, the Coleman Institute for Addiction Medicine, about 15 miles from their residence in Midlothian, Virginia.
The young man went for treatment at the Coleman Institute, where Jennifer Pius Gifford, now the CEO, has been working there for 25 years since her time as a medical assistant.
She mentioned that kratom addiction accounts for about 40% of the institute’s treated clients, an eight-fold increase compared to 2024. About 70% of phone inquiries are related to kratom.
Due to the surge in demand, she believes “all forms of kratom should be classified as Schedule I controlled substances.”
The DEA classifies drugs that have “high potential for abuse and currently no accepted medical use” as Schedule I controlled substances. This category includes heroin, marijuana, and peyote.
The majority of people using 7-OH develop physical dependence, but regular kratom users may also develop dependence, she noted. She mentioned that regular kratom users with lower doses may never develop dependence.
Her institute is one of the few in the U.S. that offers specialized treatment for kratom withdrawal.
A woman told Gifford that other treatment centers responded saying, “There is no such thing as kratom withdrawal, you don’t need withdrawal treatment.”
The institute uses a therapy developed by Dr. Peter Coleman over many years, eliminating addictive substances like alcohol, kratom, and opioids from the body through medication.
This rapid detox process is done as an outpatient, lasting five days or less, which increases the likelihood of completing treatment compared to traditional inpatient treatments that take up to thirty days and cost over $20,000.
The Coleman Institute has branch locations in multiple cities, including California. Gifford mentioned that a California woman paid only a $20 insurance copayment for detox treatment.
After detox ends, “the work is not finished,” she emphasized.
The institute handles hundreds of cases each year, helping patients and their families connect with other rehab services to address addiction-related issues. Gifford noted that over 90% of patients must confront unresolved traumas that led to their self-medicating.
Some individuals are more prone to addiction than others, possibly due to life experiences or differences in brain chemistry. Gifford stressed that loved ones need to understand that “addiction is a lifelong illness accompanying the patient.”
Dr. Craig Swainey, a former cancer specialist turned opioid addict, was candid at the Coleman Institute. “I’m in recovery, relapse is part of my life. I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to think I’m looking down on you,” he said.
He told The Epoch Times he has treated individuals from various professions, including other medical professionals and even clergy members.
Family members of addicts often struggle to understand why they cannot simply use common sense to quit harmful habits that cause tremendous harm to themselves and those around them.
Swainey explained that addicts may not view these issues clearly because addiction leads to “significant changes in how the brain operates.”
When patients “haven’t learned effective coping mechanisms for stress or how to deal with past traumas,” relapse becomes part of the recovery process.
Swainey stated that when kratom is present alongside multiple drug abuses, the withdrawal process becomes more complex. Additionally, the variety of kratom strains complicates the treatment of kratom addiction – often without the users’ knowledge.
“People see kratom as a safe alternative to many drugs because they can easily buy it at corner shops,” he said. “And most of the staff at corner stores won’t provide accurate, reliable information about this drug.”
Jennifer Gifford and her husband Neal Gifford shared their experience at a kratom shop selling kratom in a Richmond store.
A clerk in her twenties showed them various kratom products taking up 20 feet of space. Neal Gifford asked if 7-OH types are addictive, to which the clerk replied, “Not at all… people really love it, sometimes they come in two or three times a day!”
Gifford said some individuals who had successfully kicked heroin addiction regretted trying kratom because they became addicted to it too. Some said they spent over $100 a day to buy 7-OH to alleviate withdrawal symptoms, which they found more excruciating than withdrawing from heroin.
While regulatory agencies have focused on 7-OH, Gifford stated that over the past few years, some users of milder kratom products still require withdrawal treatment. She mentioned that this is why she believes kratom also needs regulation.
After undergoing a five-day outpatient detox treatment at the Coleman Institute last year, Cameron Francis, now 30, continues to wrestle with “strong cravings and recurrent outbreaks of addictive substances,” according to his father.
Describing withdrawal symptoms, Cameron Francis said, “It’s uncomfortable, you can’t take a deep breath… constant runny nose, teary eyes. It’s spiritual torment; it’s psychological fear, it’s physical suffering. It’s a relentless intertwining of all pains, arguably the most unbearable torment in life.”
He admitted that he once believed he could “tough it out with willpower,” to break free from addiction.
However, he found that it was not feasible.
Cameron Francis said, “This is different from just working hard, having a strong work ethic or discipline; this is your body against you… and willpower cannot help you overcome it.”
Like many, he once looked down on addicts, thinking they were “voluntarily sinking into it… lacking the willpower to make the right choices… just a bunch of stupid lowlifes.”
Now, he realizes this was a misconception. While he encountered addicted individuals from “very difficult family conditions,” he also met people from stable, respectable, highly intelligent backgrounds similar to his own.
Asked what he would say to those considering trying kratom, Cameron Francis offered this advice: “Make sure you understand the territory you are stepping into… you will enjoy it very much – absolutely love it.”
But then, people will begin to crave it more and more. He warned, “As your life becomes a mess, you will be in excruciating pain.”
He said he hoped society could learn vital lessons from his experience. When addicts behave inappropriately, people should remember, “Behind this behavior is a person who really needs help.”
“Every time I feel judged… or someone is unhappy with my choices, I am more inclined to sink deeper into addiction,” he said.
Therefore, he believed that the closest “solution” to addiction problems is “empathy and kindness.” He said he hoped to one day convey this message through music.