VIDEO: How Kratom is Marketed to Kids
TRANSCRIPT:
When kratom was first starting to come out, which has been a long time now, they couldn't figure out how to market it effectively, right?
So weed is an easy sale, right? You slap, a Jamaican flag on it. You put, someone with dreads on it.
You say, "This is gonna be good for you. Relax."
You know what I mean? It's, “nothing's gonna happen here,” and everyone wants to get it. It's colorful. It's fun. No one wants to go buy cool heroin, 'cause that's, a stop, right? Every kid knows, eh, maybe not heroin yet.
So kratom didn't have a market. But once they figured out how to make it colorful, exciting, and get it into the point of sale for all kids, right? Which is, you can get like a lollipop, a glass bottle Coke, and some, fake heroin that's not called fake heroin.
It's like for your ADHD or just to calm yourself down or to get some sleep.
So I think, for us, one of the things that is important is that this kind of movement in drug use is happening in a way that's truly, unfair to the market it's reaching.
This video is an excerpt from a continuing education presentation in Philadelphia featuring Kevin Bandy of Voyage Recovery Center and Brandy Price Klingman of St. Christopher’s Addiction Wellness Center. The presentation explored kratom and other emerging substances and the challenges they present for clinicians, families, and young adults. Special thanks to Synergy Houses, Ashley Addiction Treatment, and Be a Part of the Conversation for helping make this event possible.
This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. If you have questions or concerns about kratom, emerging substances, or substance use in a young adult, please contact Voyage Recovery Center directly.