Published in The Mitragynist – April 2025
When people talk about Kratom, they use the language of consumption.
“Users.”
“Dosage.”
“Dependence.”
“Side effects.”
It’s the same medicalized, reductionist framing slapped onto everything that doesn’t fit neatly into Western pharmacology. But here’s the thing—
You don’t use Kratom. You work with it.
The Language of Power and Plants
Working with a plant is not the same as using a pill.
You don’t “use” yoga.
You don’t “use” a forest.
You don’t “use” meditation, breathwork, or prayer.
Those things are practices. Relationships. Ongoing conversations between body, mind, and environment. Kratom, for millions of people, belongs in that same space.
It’s not a drug. It’s a dialogue.
Every Leaf Tells a Story
Working with Kratom means learning your own chemistry.
It means discovering how:
- Red Borneo slows the world down just enough to survive a pain flare
- Green Maeng Da lets you get through a work shift with dignity
- White Thai gives you your mornings back without shaking hands or side-eye from the pharmacist
It’s not about escaping. It’s about engaging, often with the parts of life that are too heavy to carry alone.
Kratom Is Collaborative
This plant doesn’t “fix” anything. It doesn’t promise miracles.
But when it works, it shows up—not like a dealer, but like a partner.
You have to respect it.
You have to listen.
You have to adjust, reflect, respond.
That’s not addiction. That’s alignment.
And it deserves to be treated with the same reverence we give to any other healing practice.
The Real Danger Is the Frame
As long as Kratom is only spoken about in terms of “use,” it stays stuck in the same file drawer as heroin, meth, and fentanyl.
That’s not science. That’s stigma.
And it’s costing people their jobs, their access, and sometimes their lives.
Bottom Line
Kratom isn’t a fix. It isn’t a crutch.
It’s a leaf—and a lifeline.
You don’t use it.
You work with it.
And that is a truth worth fighting for.
Verideon 
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