RESEARCH LIBRARY: 100+ studies · FDA data · Poison center reports · Policy analysis → GlobalKratom.org
RESEARCH LIBRARY: 100+ studies · FDA data · Poison center reports · Policy analysis → GlobalKratom.org
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Open Truth: Advocates Edition — Investigative profiles of kratom's most vocal defenders

Open Truth: Advocates Edition

Kratom's defenders have spent years walking into statehouses armed with testimonials, miracle recoveries, borrowed scientific authority, attacks on medical examiners, and an apparently bottomless supply of reasons why kratom deserves the credit when something goes right and none of the blame when something goes wrong. Open Truth simply applies their favorite concept—scrutiny—to the people doing the selling. No rumors required. Their testimony, publications, advocacy materials, organizational ties and own words provide more than enough material. We didn't write the record. We just stopped politely looking away.

Mac Haddow

Minister of Innocence

Different state, different death, different evidence—same conclusion: it wasn't the kratom. FDA, medical examiners, FAERS, fentanyl, 7-OH and eventually cheese all get their turn in the defendant's chair.

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Dr. Heidi Sykora

From Miracle to Medical Examiner

From "God made the natural Kratom plant perfect" to challenging conclusions about kratom deaths. Nothing says disinterested scientific scrutiny quite like reviewing evidence about a substance you've already called a "miracle."

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Misty Brown

Netflix & Peer Review

From cocaine withdrawal and a Netflix documentary to passing along her "journey, wisdom and science." Somewhere between A Leaf of Faith and the smoke shop, an Institutional Review Board convened without telling anyone.

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Melody Woolf

The Miracle That Made It to Congress

The medical miracle that made it all the way to Congress before the treating doctor made it into the materials reviewed. Extraordinary claims deserve something sturdier than an extraordinary testimonial.

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Lora Romney

The Kayak Clinical Trial

Her testimony presents a dramatic before-and-after story culminating in "controlled pain, living life, being a grandma." Lovely photograph; unfortunately, the kayak is evidence of kayaking, not pharmacology.

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Moms for America

Grassroots, Apparently

The kratom lobby needed moms. Mom answered the door. An organization promising to "Protect American Families" joined an AKA partnership initiative involving testimonials and work alongside its legislative team. Grassroots, apparently, now comes with lobbyists.

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Jack Henningfield

Paid to Conclude

His January 2026 Pinney Associates report for Ohio claimed scientific independence. Its own disclosures revealed AKA funding, consulting ties to kratom marketers, and paid expert-witness work. The conclusion: exactly what the industry paid for.

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John Shinholser

Recovery Expert

Decades of recovery experience. Extraordinary claims: 29 of 30 detoxed with kratom, kratom reducing opioid deaths, and only six addicts out of thousands. His testimony asks lawmakers to accept all of it — without the evidence to back it up.

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Garbage Evidence

Six Studies, Six Problems

A six-rat IV study becomes "kratom isn't addictive." A non-probability survey becomes "24 million Americans." A self-selected AKA-recruited sample becomes evidence of safety. A critical examination of the evidence packet.

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Louisiana

The Kratom Lobby's Greatest Hits

Invisible 7-OH. Free kratom on the AKA vendor page. Industry money that took several questions to disclose. Twenty-four million users from a non-probability survey. Casomorphins in cheese. And then Louisiana banned kratom anyway.

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Matt Salmon

The FDA Study That Somehow Got Safer

Twenty times the recommended dose. Safe at all levels. Directly out of the FDA. The published study says something considerably different. Montana lawmakers heard the pitch. Then they advanced the ban.

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Georgia

Mac Haddow Demands to Speak to the Manager

Monster Energy. Benadryl. Imodium. A threatened complaint to the Speaker. A "trick question" accusation. Cheese. A ten-year personal disclosure. Then a legislator asked: "Should we sell it in a convenience store? Yes or no?" The answer arrived without the gift wrapping.

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