Towards a Situational Analysis of Kratom in America

• In Event: Roundtable: Substance and Alcohol Abuse Research

Abstract

Using the social worlds framework and situational analysis, we seek to map out the diverging meanings and motivations of two opposing forces in a conflict over the legal status of the mind-altering substance, mitragyna specioca (henceforth, Kratom). Data analyzed includes relevant publicly available government memos, news articles, interview data, and online comments. On one side of the conflict, governmental agencies are conducting a discursive campaign to link Kratom with several drug overdose fatalities and, more broadly, to the Opioid Crisis. On the opposing side, Kratom users and consumer groups are conducting a counter-campaign to depict the plant as natural (read: safe) and its users and distributors as capable of self-regulation, thus negating the need for governmental oversight. As media attention in the United States surrounding Kratom skyrockets these two distinct social worlds, the governmental and grass-roots consumer, are poised to become a uniquely antagonistic battle in drug criminalization.

Authors

• Andrew Burns, Louisiana State University

• Jolene Vincent, College of William and Mary

• Lynnette Coto, Louisiana State University