Mitragynine

So let's talk about what these substances are.

Mitragynine is the main natural compound in the kratom leaf.

MGPI, short for mitragynine pseudo-indoxyl, is lab-made.

MGM-15 is also lab-made.

Mitragynine, let's start with that.

Kratom comes from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia, and at low doses, it acts as a mild stimulant.

At higher doses, it has opioid-like effects, and some people use it for pain management and even to manage opioid withdrawal.

Mitragynine acts on the opioid receptors in the brain more weakly than morphine, and on its own, it's unlikely to explain a sudden death in a healthy young person.

What a tragedy.

Investigators found open packages of a product labeled Smax, S-M-A-x, listing the semi-synthetic compounds, mitragynine, pseudoxynoxol, and MGM-15.

If I'm mispronouncing, I hope you'll forgive me.

But this was found at both scenes, and it was tied to purchases at the store in question.

For generations, workers in those countries chewed kratom for pleasure, or they brewed the leaves as tea to give them energy when they were hard at work or to alleviate pain.

At lower doses, it can act like a stimulant.

The higher dose causes the opioid-like effects because of alkaloids such as mitragynine and seven-hydroxymitragynine, which is seven OH.

The FDA has warned that kratom is not approved to treat any medical condition.

And there's several alkaloids within kratom, depending on the variety.

The one that is most researched and most talked about, most cited, will be mitragynine or mitragynine, or MIT in short, just MIT.

And that is pretty abundant in the kratom that you get out of Indonesia, which supplies like at this point, probably still in the high 80s, maybe 9% of the world's kratom use comes from Indonesia, primarily off of Borneo, one of the major islands.

in Indonesia, and that kratom does typically have an alkaloid profile that is higher in mitragynine and less so in some of the other alkaloids like especially acylatine, pananthine, which also have benefits as well too, but it's mostly MIT.

And that MIT is researched for pain relieving properties, being a vasodilator, which can help with that clean energy feel, better blood flow, and then some lute as well too, impacting your serotonin receptors.

So mood, energy, but pain relief is probably the number one thing that folks associate mitragynine to.

And then there's 7-OH, which is a lot of controversy around that.

It doesn't really get produced naturally in the plant, but in the, If you take Mitragynine and you oxidize it, or if you consume it, your body does convert some of it to 7-OH.

Despite similar names, the active compounds in kratom are not the same.

Mitragynine has a mild stimulant effect at lower doses, while seven hydroxymitragynine has stronger opioid-like effects like sedation, euphoria, and some pain relief.

Seven hydroxymitragynine, however, has a higher risk of physical dependence, tolerance, and severe withdrawal symptoms.

Kratom is not new on the scene.

[laughs]

Died on August 20th due to alcohol and mitragynine toxicity.

Mitragynine, yeah, yep.

Okay.

According to the Wayne County Medical Examiner autopsy.