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How is Kratom not a drug?
Especially in the early days of the recent Kratom "boom", I definitely heard a lot of people call it "not a drug". I think kindof in the same way as there are lots of psychoactive substances that people don't consider "drugs". (Chamomile that I listed in my OP, for instance. People feed that shit to their little kids and don't think of it even slightly like they think of alcohol or hard drugs or whatever. But that shit's a GABA agonist just like alcohol, GHB, and benzos. There's definitely a sense of the word "drug" in which chamomile is super duper for sure yes a drug.) I think mostly those folks were in deep denial. It's not just a drug, but a pretty concerning one for its addiction potential if nothing else. But still, I've heard people say it's "not a drug". So, yeah. I think it counts for purposes of this thread.
The reason why kratom users are like this is because the withdrawal effects are no worse than caffeine withdrawal. When I don't take kratom, I feel tired and irritable, just like someone who hasn't had their coffee. That's the worst of it. After a few days I'm back to baseline, even if I was taking it daily. (I'm currently two weeks into a break from it right now.)
Am I in denial? IDK; I can only provide my own personal experience from what I've seen in my family and myself when we use it. I just don't want to see it being lumped in with harder substances like cocaine and fent, cause I swear some of you act like it's all one in the same. But for me and the people I know who take it, it's no worse than a caffeine addiction. You want to talk about an addiction that's tough to quit? Let's talk about nicotine.
I think kratom would meet the quasi-drug-but-not-a-drug condition set by OP since it is a drug but is largely unregulated and not legally a drug in a lot of places.
Its status now reminds me a lot of betel nut.
It is a drug in the same way that caffeine is a drug, which is what this topic is about. Withdrawal from caffeine is much worse for me than withdrawal from kratom. There's a lot of unwarranted fear-mongering when it comes to kratom, and judging by the tone of your comment, it seems to me that you believe the misinformation.
As someone with eight years of experience with on and off kratom usage, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.