Substance Relative Safety Landscape Analyses
The graphs below offer a comprehensive view of the substance landscape, highlighting where kratom falls in comparison to other commonly used substances.
Download the below charts as a PDF here.
Google search results from 2004 to now put into perspective the public’s concern over so-called “kratom addiction” versus that of other popular substances.
PUBLIC INTEREST IN ADDICTION
Source: Google
The following graph presents a selected review on statistics of total calls to the American Association of Poison Control Centers between 2017 and 2021, organized by chosen substance. This data contextualizes the relative scale of Poison Control Centre calls for kratom versus other widely consumed substances.
CALLS PER SUBSTANCE
Source: American Association of Poison Control Centers
Normalizing the call data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers per 100,000 users for each substance, kratom calls barely register.
CALLS PER 100K USERS
Source: American Association of Poison Control Centers, CDC, SAMHSA user data
Reviewing the number of total calls to the American Association of Poison Control Centers between 2017 and 2021 on the selected substances that resulted in death, there were only 15 calls between 2017 and 2021 that resulted in death after kratom ingestion (36% of all calls were polyuse cases), whereas opioid calls that resulted in death were almost 1,500 in the same 5-year period.
CALLS RESULTING IN DEATHS
Source: American Association of Poison Control Centers
FAERS ADDITIONAL FACTORS OF KRATOM DEATH ANALYSES
It has been widely reported that kratom deaths are increasing at an “alarming rate.” When reviewing the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), for kratom-related deaths, it is evident that the majority of deaths associated with kratom are linked to polysubstance use or other mitigating circumstances. This context is graphed below, between 2019 and 2021, showing a declining rate in kratom-only deaths.
Source: Nutrasource independent review of FAERS, CAERS, & CDC data, 2023
CDC, FAERS, AND CAERS DATA ANALYSES
It has been widely reported that kratom deaths are increasing at an “alarming rate.” When reviewing the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), the CFSAN Adverse Event Reporting System (CAERS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention databases in the context of overall substance use in the U.S., normalized per 100,00 users, the data illustrates that kratom presents a much lower risk than alcohol, tobacco, sugar, and opioids.
Source: Nutrasource independent review of FAERS, CAERS, & CDC data, 2023