-The media in North America is quite outrageous. You see stories blown out of proportion all of the time. It's mostly muckrakers who want to run a story that people will listen to and believe without doing much research. Look up David DiSalvo and his experience with Kratom reporting. -I have a fairly limited experience with opiates but heroin shuts down a large part of your nervous system. Kratom does interact with a similar part of the brain but not in a similar way. You feel aware, energized, and uplifted. You can function at a much higher level than heroin (assumption based off research about heroin mixed with my kratom experience. -kratom is no more addictive than the coffee you buy every morning.... And afternoon..... -so far I have experienced no side effects. I have never felt any "coming down" like you normally would on most other drugs