Posted on 06/23/2026 2:27:35 PM PDT by Libloather
Stay-at-home mom Bari Sinoyannis thought she was buying a natural, plant-based alternative to pain relievers when she picked up kratom powder at a North Carolina smoke shop in 2022.
“The fact that it’s labeled as a natural alternative to pain medication was why I fell for it. I was like, you know what? I’m gonna try it. And pretty much immediately I was addicted,” the 37-year-old told The Post. “I was like, oh, this is a miracle drug. This is curing my pain. This is curing my depression. Everything’s better now. Until it wasn’t.”
What Sinoyannis didn’t know is that, even though it can be casually picked up at a convenience store, gas station, or smoke shop, kratom is a highly addictive substance that can cause severe withdrawals and catastrophic side effects.
The psychoactive plant extract from Southeast Asia is sold in powder, drinks, gummies, capsules, teas and energy shots. It is advertised for its purported pain-relieving ability and as a natural aid for depression and anxiety and it can make people feel alert, energetic, and more talkative.
But it can also have catastrophic downsides.
Over the course of the next several years, Sinoyannis gradually became so addicted to kratom, she needed to take doses all day and through the night just to feel normal, costing her up to $600 a week. Over time, she upgraded from kratom powder to 7-OH, a derivative compound found in the kratom plant that is highly potent and more concentrated.
**SNIP**
One popular brand of Kratom-infused drinks, Feel Free, bragged in a press release about selling a quarter of a billion dollars worth of their product in the US in 2025. A two-serving bottle currently costs about $13 on their website.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Better make your $$ while you can.
“Sinoyannis gradually became so addicted to kratom, she needed to take doses all day and through the night just to feel normal, costing her up to $600 a week.”
Maybe it is not all that addictive and Bari has issues with impulse control.
The only thing I usually use for routine pain is TIME. Headaches go away with time. If the pain is associated with inflammation, I may take an Advil for the inflammation.
Something you'd never find over the counter at a pharmacy or grocery store.
Traveling through a town in Virginia (no English spoken) last year, Kratom was advertised and sold EVERYWHERE. Beer stores, convenience stores, smoke shops, local drug stores.I looked it up then. Nasty $h!t.
Thanks for posting. Health / life BUMP!
There are so many ads on TV now that it is difficult to discern the ingredients. “Natural” and “plant based” but can cause a lot of problems. Interactions and dependency.
Omega XL is from concentrated oil of green lipped mussels caught near New Zealand. Has that been studied and tesed thoroughly?
Many Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic “natural” items contain human or animal urine.
“In Ayurveda, the use of urine centers around two primary concepts: therapeutic consumption/application (such as Shivambu) and cow urine (Gomutra). While these practices have deep roots in ancient texts, they remain highly controversial and lack rigorous scientific evidence for widespread medical efficacy.”
Source: National Institutes of Health.gov .
What other drugs, legal or illegal, has she been addicted to? Where was she getting $600. a week? Over $31,200.00 per year? She must be a street walker, addicted to other things.
Of the 92 deaths, what other drugs were present in their systems? Could it be one of the other drugs killed them?
Too many questions, too little info.
So they promote marijuana while they worry about this?
The people this country have become obsessed with the term “plant based”. Without considering that so many drugs come from plants. I mean, what makes “plant based” so perfect?
I saw the term plant based in big letters on a half gallon of soy milk at the grocery store. Why does anyone have to be told that soy milk is plant based?
Are consumers that stupid? No need to answer that was a rhetorical question.
Heroin is plant based. I’m staying away.
Drugs are bad, m’kay?
Red wine and dark chocolate works wonders for me!
The people this country have become obsessed with the term “plant based”.
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poison from plants is plant based
Go get your Kewpie Doll! We have a winner!
I am currently coming off a total opiate withdrawal from Dilaudid because of the incompetence of the “palliative care team” who was supposed to prevent that from happening. It was a week of pure hell and I intend to sue the hospital. I told the doctor last week that the pain was gone and I immediately quit the Dilaudid but all she said to me was take your anti-nausea med and see how you feel tomorrow. No mention that I required a medically supervised taper to get off this drug. Dilaudid is an extremely potent opioid like 5-8x as strong as morphine and physical addiction occurs in 2-3 weeks. I was on it for months and had no idea just how physically addicted I was. What a nightmare.
Imdeed, but that includes ethanol and nicotine too. Both of these are drugs, both of these cause addictions and both are harmful to users. Yet these are legal and nobody is arguing otherwise (at least since the repeal of prohibition). Where exactly does the Constitution say that the government has the power to prohibit individuals from consuming anything they wish?
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