E25 Dr. Kirsten Smith, PhD - Lead Scientist, 2022 NIDA-Funded Kratom Study

The Kratom Guy Show

Welcome Back! Thank you so much for joining us! I am thrilled to sharing my wonderful chat I had with Dr. Kirsten Smith with all of you! Dr. Smith is lead investigator of the new (2022) national NIDA-funded kratom study. She is also openly a former heroin addict and bank robber! We had such an amazing talk and it was really great to get her thoughts on all things addiction, recovery, brain development, and of course kratom! It was great to get her unique perspective due to her past life as an addict as well as being a scientist and doctor. It really solidified that if you're an addict struggling, you can completely recover and become the best version of yourself - after drug addiction.

Before our segment with Dr. Smith I unknowingly had a really emotional time sharing our amazing sponsor, Your Leaf Your Life giveaway to a very well-deserved listener in need. I also briefly discuss some kratom news and current events; Rapides Parish Louisiana criminalizes the sale and use of kratom locally. Is Mississippi on track to criminalize kratom statewide? Family files wrongful death kratom lawsuit against Lubbock, Texas business.

Dr. Kirsten Smith has been researching kratom since 2017, when she was a doctoral student at the University of Louisville. Her first-hand experience with drug use and addiction contributed to her early interest in kratom. After coming to NIDA’s Intramural Research Program in Baltimore, Maryland in 2019 as a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Smith spearheaded several online surveys and was also the lead associate investigator on a clinical trial examining the effectiveness of an experimental opioid for suppressing withdrawal. Now, Dr. Smith is the lead investigator on a national NIDA-funded kratom study utilizing ecological momentary assessment and kratom product assay. She has also recently launched a small in-person kratom clinical trial to observe kratom product effects in humans. With this pilot data she hopes to launch more human laboratory studies on kratom while continuing to assess real-world kratom use patterns. Dr. Smith will be joining the Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit at Johns Hopkins University in August 2023 and plans to continue her kratom work for years to come.

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Music by:

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Sources:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FzbmTRcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Kirsten%20Elin%20Smith&sort=date&ac=yes

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36108442

https://www.kalb.com/2022/10/13/rapides-parish-police-jury-unanimously-votes-ban-kratom

https://www.wtva.com/news/mississippi-may-join-alabama-as-a-state-banning-kratom/article_9e188f9e-4bb8-11ed-9d2d-d7f16e34b4bb.html

https://www.carlsonattorneys.com/news-and-update/kratom-death-lawsuit