Product WARNING
Fake Kratom Herb, Kratom acetate, Mitragynine acetate

General information

• For the last year (late 2002 / early 2003) the ethnobotany market has been swamped with kratom herb and kratom products (eg: mitragyine acetate, kratom acetate, etc). There were a lot of reasons to be suspicious about this stuff, mostly from a botanical and pharmacological perspective.
• The first thing that bothered me was that the current batch of kratom all comes from a single supplier, Bruno Phillips who operates out of France and imports 'kratom' from Burma.
• The second was that the material had an alkaloid content of more than 4%, while kratom is known to have an average of about 0.5%, peaking at about 1.5%.
• The third was an issue raised by several people associated with "The Entheogen Review" who were concerned about the dense hairs on the leaves. A thorough botanical description soon showed that hairs were not acceptable for this species.
• The fourth was the high variability in effects reported by users. In particular the fact that some high dose experiments produced no results at all.
• The fifth was that when I finally got the herb it looked nothing like my own homegrown (fully ID'ed) kratom and also had a perculiar odour that is not typical of kratom.
• Daniel Siebert sent me an e-mail desribing his TLC results which showed that the material sold by Bruno is devoid of mitragyine and possibly all indoles.
• Mark Brady (MJB Botanicals) ran a HPLC on his extract in comparison to proper reference standards and also concluded that the extract and herb don't contain any mitragynine.

  
  So why is this a problem?
  

• There are probably over 100 kilos of material out there in various forms, which are being consumed all over the world in the belief it is safe kratom herb.
• While active doses are known, overdose data is not available for an unknown substance.
• Real kratom that is provided by Rob Montgomery &co, 'Bumblebee', Basement Shaman, Bouncing Bear, Shaman Australis and some others may get confused with the fake kratom and give all a bad reputation.
• Anti-addiction research cannot be done with material that does not contain the target compound.
• Synergies / interactions are unknown and could be dangerous.
• If it isn't an indole that makes up the high alkaloid profile (or even if it is), then what is it?
• Seed distributed by the same supplier is bound to be the same species (ie not kratom).
  
  

Questions that have been raised:

• But surely there are lots of other kratom suppliers?
  No, sadly not. Rob's supply dwindled a couple of years ago and no plants have been available long enough to be able to provide material for even a small percentage of the market. Basement Shaman has grown some real kratom and some others may have the real herb in the near future. Please check the pictures below (coming soon) to see if you have the right material. Demand to see pictures of the material you are ordering from your retailer.
• Who is Bruno?
  Bruno is the supplier at the top of all other suppliers and retailers. He is the top of the chain. He sold kilos of the stuff for about US$300 per kilo.
• But Bruno provided seeds that look identical to Kratom seeds?
  Other Mitragyna sp seeds are easy to get. In particular M.ciliata and M.parvifolia. These have previously been sold as Mitragyna speciosa INTENTIONALLY misidentified. I had a battle with the wholesaler over this about 4 years ago, but know that he has been trying to offer them as kratom seeds in the meantime. There are some minor morphological differences in the seedpods too.
  
• It should not be called a scam based only on the TLC results.
  True, but there are many botanical and pharmacological features that gave good grounds to doubt the authenticity of the herb material. These have now been backed up by further analyses. The reluctance of the original supplier to divulge the proper identity of the material and his reluctance to refund all costs to his customers now makes this a scam.
  
• If a website is offering 'Mitragynine acetate' then surely this is pure alkaloid supplied by a pharmceutical firm?
  Not so. At least one company was offering this at prices comparable to kratom acetate prices. The price for pharmaceutical Mitragyine is about US$200 for 10mg if you can find it.
• Have people been poisoning themselves by consuming this material?
  Unlikely. This material has been around for a few months and has been used by quite a few people. There appears to be no indication of any obvious dangers. Care is advisable though especially in higher doses.
  
• Is mitragynine unstable? Could this account for it not being detected in the TLC?
  Mitragynine is probably quite reactive and may degrade under certain conditions. Gentle alkaloid extraction techniques will not affect mitragynine noticably - if at all. Keeping the alkaloid in solution or as freebase will likely degrade it quickly. Storage of the herb will eventually lead to a slow loss in potency comparable to yohimbine (ie over many months).
  
• The term "kratom acetate" makes no sense.
  True, it is not a correct chemical term. It is not possible to make a salt (acetate) out of a plant. however, as wrong as it is in chemical terms, is is quite a descriptive term for the more correct 'acetate salt of whole crude kratom alkaloids extract'.
  
• What about the plants that are being offered aroud the place? Are these fake too?
  Any plants currently for sale are the real thing.These are from the 3 strains currently available (Rob Montgomery's & co, 'bumblebee', and 'Rifat' / Shaman Australis). So far it appears that no one has germinated the seed of the fake kratom and as such no plants are likely to enter the market just yet. Judging from the furry appearance of the dried herb, it is very likely that the seedlings and plants derived from fake seed will also be furry. It should not be difficult to tell them apart. More info will be provided here when/if this problem arises.

The experimental results:

• Daniel Siebert's TLC
• Mark Brady's HPLC
• more to come, incl GC/MS by Sasha Shulgin
  
  
  The players:
  
  Ethnogarden::
  Ethnogarden Ethnobotanicals sell the extract, the plain herb and also the seed for this unidentified species. He has been at the forefront of investigating this species and the underlying scam as soon as I presented him with the evidence. He has relabelled the fake kratom extract as 'Mellow Gold' thus clearly indicating that it is not Mitragyna speciosa, but at the same time keeping it available to those who want to experiment with it.
  
  MJB:
  MJB Botanicals makes much of the kratom extract that is being sold worldwide at the moment (through many other ethnobotanical retailers). His herbal starting material is the same fake 'kratom' being offered on the web, all of which is sourced from 'Bruno' in France. His extract is now also called 'Mellow Gold'. It is quite potent and has had mostly good reports.
  
  Kitzu:
  Kitzu was the first to take my suggestions seriously and immediately stopped facilitating sales for this herb. Even though he facilitated many sales, he never actually saw or sampled the product. His commission was paltry. Although his name comes up in a lot of transaction in this matter, he was not the actual supplier.
  
  Many retailers have reacted responsibly and have either removed or renamed their fake kratom products. The positive response has been encouraging.
  
  Bruno/Ebotashop/Myanmar:
  Bruno has been advertising Kratom herb to ethnobotany retailers for almost a year. He does so by direct marketing and does not appear to maintain a website. Many retailers and wholesalers have purchased crude herb from Bruno. As the only other source of kratom herb had dried up before Bruno entered the market, it is safe to assume that (virtually) all kratom on the market all around the world is sourced from Bruno. Bruno sells his herb for between US$200 and US$600 per kilo, which is a high price for kratom even if it is the real thing. One of the people who distributed kratom for Bruno claims that Bruno stopped trading in this herb once he found out about Daniel Siebert's and my own doubts on the matter. I have not been able to confirm this. Regardless, there are vasts stocks of the material and extracts in the marketplace at the moment. Bruno still claims that the material is shade-dried kratom imported from Burma. He makes no apologies and does not give refunds. He is the root of this scam.
  
  
  note to retailers & wholesalers:
  A list of 'bad players' will be posted with the names and URLs of any businesses who continue to sell this fake material fraudulently as kratom or Mitragyna speciosa. This does not mean that the extract should not be made available. It does however mean it should be represented truthfully. I will continue to e-mail businesses, forums and mailing lists about this matter. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me (link at bottom).
  
  
  The tireless reseachers:
  In an effort to protect this community the following people have either devoted many hours to get to the bottom of this, or have provided key expertise, finance or materials. Their only reward is your respect!
  Daniel Siebert, Jon Hanna, Will Beifuss, Dennis McKenna, Karl Jansen, Jason at Ethnogarden, Mark at MJB, Darklight at Wandjina Gardens, Sasha Shulgin, the Erowid crew, and myself.
  
  There are many other people who have thrown us little bits of information which were essential in putting the pieces of the puzzle together. This has been an inspiring excercise in cooperation and free knowledge sharing.
  
  
  Note: 1st of May 2003.
  Bruno has finally been in touch with myself and some retailers. He has made at least one refund and has promised further refunds to all involved (please contact Bruno directly for refunds and let us know about your experiences). Bruno has also finally stopped selling the fake kratom on his website (as from early april). Some corrections were made in the above text thanks to input from Bruno. More corrections and finer details are likely to follow.
  
  
  Torsten (March/April 2003, updated May 2003)
  shaman@shaman-australis.com
  
  
  
  

Disclaimer: All seed is sold for botanical preservation purposes only. All parts of this plant can be toxic and should not be ingested.