One of the very few downsides to living in Thailand is Kratom being illegal (marijuana is too, but that's changing fast).
Teenagers like to make juice from from the leaves. They have Kratom parties if someone finds a tree still standing and once in a while I see in the local news where some poor kids get arrested for it...There aren't many old growth trees left and the wiser folk in villages generally try to protect them from the axe gangs with badges on their hats.
It is a native plant in the coffee family, an evergreen, renowned among herbalists and traditional medicine practitioners as a bit of a wonder drug. It is excellent for losing weight and as a mild stimulant with anxiety remediation effects. Chew it before a big presentation or a workout and your energy will be calm and focused. Mental clarity is a side effect!
Joe Rogan and Hamilton Morris discuss it here in a podcast on June 26th (starts at about 3 minutes 10 seconds):
Morris offers his opinion as to why it is illegal here in the LOS.
(On a side note, Morris describes the success of Rogan's podcast might be because of the long form- a forum for people to fully articulate their ideas and opinions during complete conversations. I agree wholeheartedly.)
I am interested in this because I have been a farmer the past 10 years and it is very difficult to find plants that grow well here and are worth processing for sale. Rice, of course, grows easily, but the markets are heavily controlled and there is no real profit in it.
Marijuana, kratom, artemisias, and a few other tropical plants are native to this region. In other words, Thai farmers (and western dilettantes) could benefit from them.....It would be an economic windfall.
There is a lot of news lately about legalizing marijuana, but no real action yet. The conversation is still in those closed and elegant rooms....
History of Thai Stick, etc...Great article...
No comments:
Post a Comment