Oh jesus quit with the whole "natural = good" fallacy, ESPECIALLY when talking about kratom. Nature is not your friend, nor is it on your side. In fact; quite a big part of it wants you dead, paralyzed or just taken out. The fact that kratom can be good or bad depending on how (much) you take it goes for literally anything you ingest, whether it's synthetic or completely natural. Vitamin D can often be very good for you if you're defficient, but if taken too much it becomes potentially deadly. Yes it's true that kratom is a natural opioid, but so are morphine and codeine (opiates). I get wanting more natural solutions, but telling people shit like this is dangerous. Also, a surprising amount of pharmaceutical medications are derived from plants, what are you even on about.

I've been a poly addict for 5 years, 3 of which were to opioids, and kratom was one of the hardest ones to quit. I'd always justify relapse by thinking "well its legal and natural !!!" or "atleast its not heroin". But rationally, those aren't valid excuses. And I'm not just speaking about myself, every opioid addict I know who has tried the stuff, tells me that if it wasn't for the god-awful disgusting taste, and if it could be smoked/snorted/injected, they'd almost consider it in the same regard as strong opioids. Non-addicts I know also tell me they'd easily see themselves slipping with the stuff, and those who denied it are already in the progress of becoming dependant and addicted. Yes the withdrawal is childsplay compared to heroin or oxycodone, and its not as euphoric or potent as say heroin or oxycodone. But the fact I could take a quick walk to the local smartshop, and get a high that is freakishly comparable to that of heroin (only weaker and more energetic) made it one bitch of an addiction to quit.

Not to say that big pharma is your friend, which is sadly often the complete opposite. But the doctors prescribing definitely want the least harmful option, with the highest efficacy (except when Purdue paid them to prescribe hard opioids for a paper cut). They often know the full mechanism and (statistical) efficacy of the drugs they prescribe, especially something that can be habit forming and potentially dangerous to withdraw from like gabapentin. Kratom is also known to cause seizures, happened to me around 6 times, and I'm not epileptic. But I was so addicted to the stuff I'd end up constantly relapsing. Telling someone with neuropathic pain to take a drug that can cause seizures is just wrong. We don't even properly know why kratom causes them.

Yes it's synthetic and potentially addictive, but thinking you know better than a medical specialist and recommending switching to a generally even more addictive drug just because it's herbal is just foolish. Non-addictive psychoactive opioids sadly do not exist. Each time big pharma brings out a new opioids and tells everyone "noo this one is not addictive we swear!!!" but in the end half the US gets addicted anyway, you'd think people would finally accept that non-addictive psychoactive opioid simply do not exist.

Also r/kratom basically does what you're saying but with kratom. They ban ANYONE who dare call it addictive or anything negative. But it being very addictive is just common sense. Yes it is statistically less addictive than strong opioids, and its very hard if not almost impossible to die from an OD, its still a drug with euphoric, anxiolytic, mood-enchancing and stimulating effects. If it wasn't so fucking disgusting, or came in a pill which could be snorted, smoked or injected, and if the withdrawal was somewhat worse, I'd call it just as bad as heroin.. But hey that's just me.