General Nutrition Center GNC, another multinational retail giant, based in The United States, dealing with nutritional and health supplements. GNC has been under the limelight for quite a while now, and almost all of the residents of States or other countries may have at least once come across The GNC.
Kratom, Mitragyna Speciosa, a recently very misunderstood but extensively used herb or I must say, a wonder herb is being used all over the world.
People are using Kratom for it’s relaxing and calming properties, and many other medicinal and none medicinal use excessively.
What brings GNC and Kratom together is the question that does GNC deal in Kratom too? Can you buy Kratom at GNC? Like a local herbal supplement?
The simple answer to that question is NO, GNC does sell kratom. But why? When the primary purpose of the centre is to sell herbal products, then why not Kratom.
There are several legit reasons for that, and GNC is entirely justified on that.
Why Does GNC Not sell Kratom?
Kratom, as discussed earlier, is a very controversial herb. It has a striking resemblance to some schedule 1 controlled drugs that make it very contentious.
Legality Issues
Is Kratom a legal drug? Yes, it is fortunately till now. However, the FDA has not approved Kratom to be used as a treatment or cure and is not marked safe as well.
FDA has made many efforts to make Kratom a controlled drug too, but to date, there is no evidence to back up FDA’s this claim.
Kratom is legal in almost all of the countries except four. In the US, it is legal in 46 states to be sold, used, and consumed; however, it can be banned by the local government in an area too.
GNC, a multinational company with the business of billions of dollars all over the world, won’t invest in a herb that has legality issues and can be banned anytime. On the other hand, GNC will never go against DEA and FDA.
Credit Card Companies
Many credit card companies have their policies about Kratom purchase and sale. Many companies take Kratom as an abusive substance and don’t allow it’s sale or purchase through their cards. There have been cases where the Credit card companies not only canceled the purchase but also seized the vendor’s account that led to much financial loss.
GNC makes transactions and payments all through cards and accounts; imagine seizing their account even for a day would make them lose in Millions. Too much risk, and Kratom for sure is not worthy enough to them.
Unnecessary Lawsuits
GNC has recently been going through many lawsuits. When you explore the history, you can find a fair share of cases that GNC has gone through. This makes GNC stay away from any potential unnecessary lawsuits, and Kratom is undoubtedly a high-risk substance.
Also, many cases are reported where people died while using kratom. Although there is no evidence that Kratom caused the death as it was abused in combination with other drugs, the reported cases make it controversial and high risk.
The FDA
Food and Drug Administration in the past has taken unannounced actions against Kratom; many vendors shipments worth millions of dollars were snatched and taken into custody without any notice. Kratoms’ future is quite uncertain, and multinational companies like GNC won’t risk loads worth millions to be wasted.
Kratom Effects and other Drugs resemblance
Kratom is used all over the world due to its life-altering effects. It mostly acts by calming the nerves, aches, muscle pains, and other physical and mental pains. This is due to its striking resemblance to many controlled prescription drugs. Although the mechanism of action is relatively different from the drugs, the same effects make it look like a dangerous drug with an addiction liability.
GNC will always stay away from such a controversial herb as long as it is declared entirely safe and free to use.
Kratom and DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration is trying to ban and control Kratom for a while now. From submitting death reports that don’t prove Kratom to be the cause of death to making forged lab reports by the mitragyna speciosa specialist, DEA is head over heels in this. However, AKA American Kratom Association has denied all the claims with proof and evidence. Kratom stays at high risk for the ban.
The use of Kratom by addicts to get over their other fatal additions has brought much negative fame to Kratom. The truth is Kratom helps drug addicts by giving an alternative non-addictive herbal drug, but that is being used against Kratum and can be banned anytime.
GNC and no other retail stores would risk going against DEA and invest in high-risk drug no matter how false the claims are.
Now, what is True about Kratom, and What is not?
All of the reasons mentioned above are sure the reasons why GNC does sell kratom, but that doesn’t mean that they all are right. There are many Myths about Kratom that need to be cleared.
- The Death reports don’t have any evidence to back up the claims that Kratom caused the death. All of the deceased people had some sort of underlying disease of used Kratom in combination with other highly addictive drugs.
- Kratom is nowhere similar to Opioids. It does activate the same receptors, but that doesn’t make it belong to the same class. Kratom’s mechanism of action is different, and there is no respiratory depression.
- The kratom industry is fully developed. From harvesters to the vendor’s everything is lab-tested, and quality checked.
- Kratom is non-addictive. You can leave it whenever you want, just like coffee or tea. It is not as addictive as heroin or other forms of poisonous drugs.
Fake News Related to Kratom
For the past many years, there has been a lot of propaganda against Kratom to defame it and demolish the rapidly growing Kratom Industry.
Who are behind this? And Why?
Big Pharma and many others that are their partners in this defamation campaign against Kratom mostly belong to the pharmaceutical companies. What do they get by demonizing Kratom? Well, Kratom is used as a herbal alternative to a schedule 1 controlled analgesic drug, The opioids. To stop abuse as well as the long list of adverse effects, people have starting to consume Kratom on a larger scale.
If the sales keep going up, this will affect Pharmaceuticals and their sales, hence a very motive to spread false news and to scare people off Kratom.
Fake News and Information
Many writers and news blogs are spreading false news without any research and strong evidence. Lack of knowledge about Kratom as it is a less understood herb and the ongoing propaganda by Major companies and the FDA and The DEA being pressurized to ban Kratom has made the Herb very controversial.
The News and the Truth
There have been many reports about Deaths related to Kratom. Now almost 151 cases were reported in which the victim died of an overdose, out of which 90 cases were listed as Kratom being the sole cause of death.
However, the reality is not that, except for a total of 7 cases, all of the other 83 instances showed the presence of other drugs in the victim’s blood
The other seven also not had a complete autopsy report, and there is a high possibility of the presence of undetectable drugs in the blood.
Misleading Article and Headlines:
Now, how the writers highlighted the news
- Herbal Drug Kratom Linked to almost 100 overdose Death, CDC says
- Herbal Kratom has killed 91 Americans across States, reports say
Just look, even the titles are so misleading, and in the articles, they don’t even mention the full reports or other drugs that were associated.
Salmonella Outbreaks and Kratom
The FDA and Big Pharma are using Salmonella breakouts as another excuse to make Kratom look bad and to knock many Kratom Vendors out of their business.
American Kratom Association AKA has, however, wholly denied the false claims and is continuously fighting against Big Pharma to save the Kratom industry.
Lack of Kratom Knowledge
The ban by The FDA and Government has made testing and studying Kratom almost impossible that has provided the fuel for all the misunderstandings about Kratom making it all part of the propaganda.
Kratom is a very mid understood Herb; this makes it very difficult to be used up to it’s potential. Lack of study and research and propaganda that are defaming it day by day not only make it look like an abusive drug but is also making it look bad in the general public, who don’t have enough knowledge to comprehend on their own.
Keeping in mind that how much big of a mess this is with the long-lasting rivalry between The Big Pharma and American Kratom Association, GNC will never risk getting into this dirty mess.
Addiction Centers, with or against Kratom?
On the one hand, Addiction centers that are highly recognized and have highly trained staff and health professional that say Kratom is highly effective and useful for people who are giving up drug addictions that are far more life-threatening. Kratom is making it a lot easier for addicts to avoid withdrawal symptoms while slowly detoxifying them.
However, it is reported that some addiction centers are not in support of Kratom and are spreading false information about Kratom adverse effects and addiction liability. That is mostly because of the same pressure that DEA is facing.
Lack of knowledge and reliability on the Big Pharma’s fueled news and headlines has caused all this kratom hate and fear.
Now from where can You Buy Kratom?
You can buy Kratom locally as well as online. Locally no big retail store sells Kratom. You have to find it in vitamin shops, smoke shops, and small hidden vendors. However, the locally sold Kratom is often Contaminated and of low quality that may lead to negative consequences.
It is recommended to buy Kratom online from a trusted vendor site. Whenever buying Kratom, look for these in any vendor site.
- The source
- Lab testing
- AKA GMP certification
- Compare prices with other vendors
- Ask away any queries related to your condition or needs
These are some basic things that are necessary for the vendor to be trustworthy.Some of the Top of the line Kratom brands recommended are:
- Ketum Superior
- Super Natural Botanicals
- Divine Botanicals
- PurKratom
Try these out if you want something right online.
When will GNC sell Kratom?
Observing the current situation with DEA, FDA, and AKA war for Kratom and the controversy that is growing day by day, it is easy to say that the chances of Kratom to be sold as a traditional herb legally by GNC are very thin.
As long as Kratom stays unapproved, GNC won’t risk selling it.
To Conclude
After the above discussion and the ongoing Kratom situation all over the World, I must say that unfortunately, Kratom is nowhere near to be legalized and sold as a herbal supplement by GNC or any other retail company. FDA and DEA are not approving Kratom for any kind of use that keeps it in never-ending controversy.
