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FAQ: Does Growing Kratom Have A Positive Environmental Impact?

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While kratom trees have been around for hundreds of years, the worldwide kratom industry is still very young. Supply chains, farming methodologies, and guidelines for safe kratom sales are being developed and altered every month. As of now, there are still a lot of changes happening regarding kratom in the world.

One area of the kratom industry that gets even less attention than the rest of the industry is the environmental impact that kratom farming has. All farming industries put some type of pressure on the land and locality; some programs are able to balance that out and some are not.

How sustainable is kratom, and are there any environmental impacts that the industry is having that we should be concerned about? These are questions that we would like to investigate more deeply as we move into a kratom-friendly world.

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A Brief Kratom Introduction

To understand how kratom might have an effect on the environment, it is important to first be aware of what it is and why it has an impact on the environment at all.

Kratom is a tree. Also known as Mitryagyna speciosa, it is a tree in the coffee family. The tree has grown naturally for hundreds of years in many Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea.

The leaves of the plant have been used for both traditional and recreational purposes in those regions for many years. The leaves could be chewed on directly for pain relief and focus, or the teas could be turned into a tea to treat common ailments.

Today, this botanical is being used for a wide variety of reasons. It’s growing popularity is leading to more focus on kratom, so the question about its long-term sustainability effect is very important.

Is kratom having an environmental impact? Is it helping or hurting the world and areas where it is grown?

Kratom: The Lesser Of The Evils?

One argument often made in favor of increasing the presence of kratom farming in these regions is that kratom is the lesser of the farming evils.

For many years, the palm oil and rubber industries kept this area alive. Additionally, forests are often being harvested for tree-based paper and timber, and that is leading to an overall reduction in space for forest animals and cultures.

Palm Oil

Palm oil production has played a huge role in the deforestation of forests in this region, and there is also evidence that palm oil production plays a large role in the problem of climate change.

Palm oil is the most highly produced oil – period. More than 60 million tons of the product are made each year, and it takes over 270 hundred million acres of land to do so. Creating these plantations leads to mass deforestation, and there are also many concerns about human rights abuses within the palm oil industry.

Palm oil is used in a huge variety of products that shoppers like you and I buy at the supermarket, and many of the world’s fuel sources contain palm oil even though it does not burn clean.

Many people believe that farming kratom instead of palm oil in regions where farming is a way-of-life could help to reduce the overall negative impact that palm oil has.

Deforestation

Another huge issue seen in these regions is deforestation. The rainforest in these areas is amazing and helps to create some of the amazing biodiversity that can be found in our world. The rainforest, however, is often destroyed to the benefit of the paper and timber industries.

Up to 70% of the paper in the United States already comes from plantations where timber is sustainably managed, but the same cannot be said in some regions of the world where these industries are less regulated. In Indonesia, 70% of all logging that happens is illegal, and yet, it continues.

Often, it is the rainforests that suffer from this addiction to logging. Recent activism in the regions has created small smarks of change, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

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While paper and timber farming require that native rainforests be cut down, the same cannot be said about the kratom industry. Kratom can (and often is) harvested by hand, leaving the trees intact. The plant continues to grow, and the forest around the plant can thrive with it.

Kratom: An Option of Sustainability

One of the reasons it is so important to pay attention to where your kratom comes from is because you want to be sure it comes from a sustainable kratom farm. Despite the potential that kratom farms have to replace industries that are more harmful to the planet, kratom farms also have to commit to environmentally-friendly practices.

While it is a good start to replace industries that are naturally more harmful than growing kratom, it’s an even better choice to make sure that the kratom industry is as eco-friendly as possible.

For example, paying farmers to grow and harvest kratom in their backyards in smaller batches may be a great alternative to setting up huge kratom groves. By planting small amounts of trees in various yards rather than clearing natural forests to grow kratom, the world is a little less damaged.

Additionally, it’s important that kratom continues to be harvested by hand rather than having entire forests taken down just to get the kratom leaves. Handpicking is more common than other methods of harvesting, but that trend needs to continue.

Wild trees can also be harvested to get kratom in some areas; in this case, trees don’t even need to be planted. Through wild harvesting, even less of an impact is made on the forests that kratom is native to.

It’s Up To People Like Us

You have a choice to decide where you will buy your kratom from. We have a choice to decide where we will source our kratom from. Vendors like us and customers like you have the opportunity to make sure that we choose options that are as eco-friendly as possible.

Doing so ensures the future of the kratom industry as well as additional protection for the world around us. What will you do to do your part?

Borneo: All About This 3-Country Island

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Does the name “Borneo” bring any specific images to mind? Do you picture a luscious rainforest or sunny beaches? Can you imagine what life is like on this island nation? For many people, Borneo is just a foreign name of a faraway foreign place that doesn’t bring anything specific to mind.

Since a lot of our products come from Borneo or originated there, we think that it’s important to learn more about the island itself. What goes on there? What is the weather like? We got curious about it all, and now, we’re going to share our findings with you!

Borneo is a large island that holds land for three separate countries; let’s find out how this happened and what it means for the island today!

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Borneo: What’s The Island Like?

The island of Borneo is 287,000 square miles. As this island is ruled by three different countries, this may seem like a pretty small area to divide, but the countries have still managed to do just that! After all, Borneo is the third-largest island on Earth, and it is the largest island in Asia! That is a big part of why so many different countries have been involved in ruling it.

Overall, there are more than 21 million people living on the island. The population density falls in around 29 people per square kilometer on average, but there are more people living in dense city areas than there are in the uninhabitable rainforests and other regions.

Uninhabitable Land

In fact, a large portion of Borneo island is uninhabitable. Between the mountainsides and dense rainforests, people have tended to settle on the coastlines where life is easier. If the mountains and rainforests weren’t enough, there are also a lot of swamps to deal with on the island.

Because of the vast tracks of uninhabitable land, however, wildlife has been able to thrive untouched. Hundreds of varieties of native trees have been identified on the island. For comparison, there are less than 200 native trees in North America. The ecology on Borneo is vast and amazing.

Mountains & Seas

The tallest point on Borneo is Mount Kinabalu, which measures in at about 13,400 feet. The mountainous island has more than a lot of mountains, however. Due to Borneo’s location, it also comes in contact with a lot of different bodies of water!

The island is surrounded by:

  • • South China Sea
  • • Makassar Strait
  • • Celebes Sea
  • • Sulu Sea
  • • Java Sea

All of these bodies of water are part of how so many different empires and colonizers attempted to move into Borneo in order to take advantage of its essential position in Asia.

Borneo: What Are The Three Countries?

The island of Borneo is divided into three separate regions that are each ruled by a different country. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei all lay claim to some part of the island. The island, however, is not divided evenly:

  • • Indonesia rules the southern 70% of Borneo
  • • Malaysia rules about 29% of Borneo
  • • Brunei takes up 1% of the landmass

Throughout the long history of Borneo, the island has been occupied and ruled by various countries and empires. The land’s political connections, as well as cultural majorities, have changed so many times that the variety of ethnicity, culture, and history on the island itself is almost overwhelming.

There have been Spanish, English, Dutch, and Portuguese merchants visiting the island through their times of exploration, and their cultures were thus able to influence what was happening around the island of Borneo.

Why The Division?

Many different groups tried to exert their control over the entire island of Borneo through history, but the geography of the land and internal strife between native tribes made it all but impossible. 

The mountainous ranges made it hard for a single colonizer to take over the whole country, so the separated areas of the island ultimately aligned with different countries. In the time leading up to modern-day, the alliances eventually lead to the current situation that can be seen on Borneo.

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Kratom In Borneo

Like us, one of the first times that you probably heard the word “Borneo” was probably in reference to Kratom. Since Borneo is not often referred to by name in our daily lives, we’re more likely to have heard of Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia than we are to have heard of Borneo.

So why is it that Borneo and Kratom are often brought up together?

Dying Industries Turned To Kratom

For many decades, palm oil and rubber were the primary exports of Borneo, and that is where a lot of people made their money. As these industries slowly withered and there was not as much product needed, farmers needed to find something else to grow and export.

With the rise of Kratom culture in the West, farmers turned to Kratom as their new cash crop. The environment on Borneo makes the island a perfect place for the native Kratom tree to thrive, and farmers took advantage of that for the future of their businesses. 

Indonesia Is Key

Most of the Kratom on Borneo is grown in a specific area of Indonesia that is about 12 hours from the nearest large city. In this region, the soil and climate make cultivating Kratom trees very easy.

While a lot of Kratom grows in Indonesia, consumption of Kratom is actually illegal in the country. It is legal to export the product, however, so farmers continue to grow Kratom as a thriving cash crop.

More Than Just Kratom

Though Kratom has been a big part of what brought thoughts about Borneo into our minds today, the island is about far more than just Kratom. Many of the locals on the island do have a history of using Kratom for ceremonial or medicinal reasons, but entire cultural aspects exist outside of Kratom.

The next time that you’re deciding to buy one of your favorite Borneo-based strains, allow an image of the island itself to come to your mind. Think about the mountains, the seas, and the interesting political situation on the island. Learning a little bit more about the world never hurts!

3 Things To Know About Countries That Export Kratom

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When you’re learning about Kratom, it can be hard to get clear information about where it comes from, what it is, and what the legalities of it really are. Here at Left Coast Kratom, we devote a lot of time and resources to learning these ins and outs because of how confusing the world of Kratom currently is. And we’re happy to share that information with our beloved customers!

One thing a lot of people want to know more about is where Kratom is grown and exported from before it’s delivered to vendors here in the US.

Does Thai Kratom really come from Thailand? You’ve probably seen conflicting responses, and that’s mostly because there is so little information on the internet from these areas that can be used to clearly answer your questions.

Today, we’ll work to clarify three major points of confusion about countries that export Kratom. 

As your trusted Kratom vendor, we feel it is important for you to have a better understanding of the places where Kratom traditionally comes from, and this is our attempt to help you begin collecting that information!

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1: Kratom Is Illegal To Use In Many Places

Two of the places that people most often envision when they think of Kratom, Thailand and Malaysia, have strict laws about Kratom usage. While historically people have used Kratom in these areas for centuries, laws set up within the last 100 years have made it illegal to use Kratom in most circumstances.

Thailand has made Kratom a schedule 5 narcotic, so users can be heavily fined or jailed if they are caught with Kratom. Recently, however, there are some exceptions for those who are interested in Kratom for its medicinal potential, but you must be registered with the government and buy through approved vendors in order to truly follow these regulations.

In Malaysia, Kratom is included as a Dangerous Substance on their official lists, but there isn’t much active criminalization of Kratom at this time. There have been a few attempts by the government to further criminalize the use of Kratom, but a respect for the traditional and ritual uses of Kratom have prevented any of those acts from being passed.

And while Malaysia can still export some Kratom, Thailand currently cannot export it at all. For that reason, much of the exporting of Kratom is done from Indonesia.

In Indonesia, not as many people have historically used Kratom due to differing opinions about whether or not it is allowed under certain religious laws. It’s currently banned for use in Indonesia but legal to export out of the country. Vendors and advocacy groups in the United States are working hard to make sure Kratom export remains legal in Indonesia.

The key takeaway is this: While exporting countries may be allowed to sell Kratom in various forms and make a profit off of it under their countries’ regulations, that does not always mean that locals can consume Kratom themselves!

2: Most Strains Are Not Grown Where You Think They Are

Another interesting fact that many people do not realize about Kratom is that the name of the strain does not always indicate where that particular batch of Kratom was grown! Strain names are more likely to identify differences in alkaloid content and color than they are to indicate where the Kratom came from.

In fact, due to limitations by the governments of Thailand, Malaysia, and other areas where Kratom thrives, most Kratom today is grown in Indonesia. Specifically, the island regions of Borneo and Sumatra are two of the most prominent exporters of Kratom.

It can feel a bit misleading that the strain names do not match the exporting country, but remember that you are searching for a specific experience, not a specific country, when you are buying various Kratom strains. Strain names often represent the origin of that strain’s particular lineage, not necessarily where the specific tree was grown.

3: Kratom Is Not Used By Everybody

Kratom is used to some extent in all countries that export it. While it is illegal to use domestically in some of those countries, there are definitely still communities of people that choose to continue to use Kratom for various purposes and benefits.

Still, that doesn’t mean that everybody in these countries is using Kratom!

Even as someone who believes that Kratom has positive effects, it is unlikely that you would recommend every single person you know to use it. After all, there are specific reasons that you chose to take Kratom, and those reasons aren’t going to make sense for everyone. 

The same rule applies to countries that export Kratom.

In Thailand and Malaysia, for example, Kratom is largely used by laborers to make it easier to get through a long day of physical work. Additionally, Kratom is used in small, rural villages as a type of traditional ceremony item.

If you were to go to Bangkok and ask the first Thai person on the street if they use Kratom, their answer is more likely to be “no” than anything else.

It’s easy to assume that using Kratom is incredibly commonplace in its countries of origin, but the truth is that Kratom is still used in limited and specific ways there just as it is here. And that distinction is pretty important!

Kratom: Not So Simple

The process of vendors getting Kratom is not so simple, and that is a large part of why there has been so much confusion on the importing side of Kratom use. Where did it come from? What strain is it? How do we know if it’s a safe, clean product?

All of these questions only get more complicated when one has to consider the cultural and legal obligations that exporters have in their own countries, and that can make thinking about the entire Kratom industry a bit of an overwhelming headache!

Reputable vendors will take the time to gain knowledge about exporting countries, to call in experts on laws in each jurisdiction, and to develop strong relationships with trustworthy farmers in those areas. We look forward to industry advances that allow more companies learn about compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices and how to track their products from seed to sale for the safety and comfort of our customers.

Indonesia Kratom Ban and Scheduling

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The American Kratom Association recently learned that the Indonesian government, through the Minister of Health, has made a proposal that would categorize kratom as a Schedule I drug. If enacted, this policy would ban kratom exports to the United States, essentially cutting off an important supply chain for American kratom companies and consumers.

The AKA, along with the Botanical Education Alliance and support from vendors like us, has assembled a delegation of lawmakers, policy experts, and scientists to go to Indonesia and meet with high-ranking government officials there. They will make the case, from a policy, science, and economic perspective, that Indonesia should not embark upon this course of action.

Donate now to help AKA keep kratom legal!

Members of the delegation include former Congressman Matt Salmon (a key supporter in 2016 with extensive foreign relations experience in Southeast Asia), Utah State Senator Bramble (sponsor of Utah’s Kratom Consumer Protection Act and chair of the National Conference of State Legislators Foundation International Committee), and kratom researcher Dr. Jack Henningfield. They will be meeting with Indonesia’s Ministry of Health and the Indonesian equivalent of the DEA, as well as with Indonesian kratom growers.

This is a critical moment for the US kratom industry and for kratom consumers everywhere. Please consider a donation to the American Kratom Association to support their delegation’s trip to Indonesia. Your donations are greatly appreciated!