Member Spotlight: Dr. Darshan Singh
Please tell us about yourself.
I am a senior lecturer and research-fellow at the Centre for Drug Research (CDR), Universiti Sains Malaysia. My main research focus includes monitoring and studying emerging drug trends and their health issues. I also study about the native medicinal plant’s (Kratom – Mitragyna speciosa Korth.) applicability among tribal communities and people who use heroin in Malaysia and Thailand. Moreover, I have conducted substantial research with females who use drugs and adolescent drug users. I am a strong human rights advocate and I constantly evaluate policies that appear to undermine the civil liberties of people who use drugs (PWUDs).
What triggered your interest in kratom?
It all started when I was tasked to investigate, as a research officer, about kratom’s increasing popularity specifically among out-of-treatment heroin users living in tribal communities prior to the implementation of the opioid-based substitution treatment program (methadone therapy) in Malaysia. Since then, my interest for kratom took a quantum leap, as I started researching more about kratom’s therapeutic applicability from a positive spectrum. Indeed, the ongoing kratom re-criminalization debate further engendered me to conduct more research to debunk the many dubious claims directed towards kratom users and the native plant.
What is the main focus of your research?
Presently, I’m actively involved in a few kratom studies. Me and my team are carrying out some surveys to understand more about kratom’s utility and benefits among heroin and methamphetamine users. We are also in the midst of validating our newly designed rapid urine test-kit that can be easily used to detect kratom addiction and health issues. Finally, I am also interviewing policymakers to understand the difficulty in decriminalizing kratom use, as well as soliciting brief information to gauge about kratom treatment misconception among medical doctors in Malaysia.
What use and consumption patterns do you see in different countries and regions?
There are significant differences in kratom use practices between people in traditional and non-traditional settings, though the native herb is used largely for its medicinal value. In the West, kratom is ingested in the form of a dried leaf powder, and comes in many different forms, and their potency usually varies greatly. In traditional context, people often chew fresh leaves and drink brewed kratom decoction. It is worth noting that consumers in Southeast Asia gives very little importance to kratom strains and dose.
What are some of the biggest challenges that kratom faces?
Some of the biggest challenges that could devastatingly ruin kratom’s future include the perpetual misconception revolving its therapeutic use. Linking kratom with opioids and pushing for tougher laws could undermine kratom’s actual medicinal value. This is because there is a lack of clinical studies to support kratom’s medicinal value, for instance for pain management and opioid use disorder. Given that kratom products are loosely labelled, distributed, and marketed, it has been biasedly blamed for all the toxicity and fatalities suspected to have stemmed from kratom use.
What does the future hold for kratom?
Kratom has a very bright future, however, it depends largely on the fewer kratom researchers who continue to unwaveringly demonstrate kratom’s therapeutic potential and counteract regulators persistent endorsement in re-criminalizing kratom use.
