A Leaf of Faith

Gives the facts, straight and to the point. This is a conversation that needs to be brought to the for front. Thank you Chris bell for doing your part to end this epidemic!

I love the style of his documentaries and this one does not disappoint. Chris interviews lots of people to get to the truth about the plant we have all heard about on the news.

Is it a hardcore harmful drug or something mild that has helped people get their lives back from chronic pain and addiction ? Watch and find out

First off, this is a must-see documentary if you are interested in learning the truth about kratom. I don't care if one of the executive producers has a financial interest in one particular store that sells kratom (and other products!) so long as the message of the film is genuine.

There are many interviews with people who have benefited from kratom where they were previously prescribed opioids like oxycodone, hydrocodone and stronger controlled substances that led to addiction, and in some cases a switch to illicit narcotics like heroin when their prescription pain killers ran out.

From the scientific standpoint, kratom doesn't depress the central nervous system (CNS) like prescription (and illicit) opiates do. In fact it's the opposite. Kratom is a relative of the coffee family and there is a mild stimulant effect from most unadulterated strains of ground up leaf.

For anyone to leave a negative review, not on the content of the film, but based on their own alleged addiction to kratom, they must have been either seriously abusing it or procuring adulterated product or "extracts" which are much stronger and marketed by some of the shadier sellers to those who might be looking for a recreational drug to play around with.

As a long-time user of this plant, I have stopped cold turkey more than 10 times once I no longer needed it for pain and the only "withdrawal" (another reviewer's word, not mine) effects are similar to quitting coffee. That is, again, unless they have been ingesting unnecessarily large amounts of dried leaf - or - using adulterated extracts for alleged recreational purposes.

Of course everyone's body is different and some lack an enzyme needed to break down the powdered leaf in their digestive system. That is another reason I recommend using a very small dose the first time if you're trying to wean yourself off of opiates and use kratom for pain. Anyone claiming that they had horrible stomach pain but continued to use it anyway is 1) unaware that they should take it as tea instead or 2) using large amounts/adulterated "extracts" in search of a "high."

Please watch the film before believing negative unsubstantiated reviews and as with anything, do as much research as you can before trying kratom!

All I'll say is I've been on kratom for over 2 years. I have stopped a few times to try out other methods to help my pain. I'm a disabled vet and because of my worries over the FDA that was why I had stopped those times. Be careful with these negative review this movie was great very informative. The ppl claiming the horrible withdrawal I'm not sure if they were coming of something else. Maybe they had bad Kratom that was mixed with opioids or it was in there minds. But the few times I stopped I never once experienced anything like what they are claiming. But of course I would not even stop drinking coffee related to Kratom by ths way cold Turkey. I would get bad headaches and be cranky!

What's irresponsible is WVfilmfem's review. This kind of ignorance is exactly why Mr. Bell felt the need to make this documentary. People need to use their brains. Everything in the world has its downsides; whether it's drugs, food, sex, there are negatives. Yes, kratom has withdrawals. But, despite what recent media reports and trigger-happy hypocrites have been trying to dump on Kratom in the past few years, Kratom use does not lead to harsh addictions and death. There are certain vendors online who have been caught mixing opioids into the kratom they sell, and this has been linked to a handful of deaths. But kratom itself? Not one death has been linked solely to kratom. It can cause withdrawals in people who go overboard with taking it, but compared to heroin and prescription painkillers like Percocet and Vicodin, that's a small price to pay. And when you compare kratom to the legal drug alcohol, it's no contest. Alcohol causes hundreds of thousands of deaths a year, and yet the FDA, DEA, and IMDB users like WVfilmfem want to attack Kratom? Give me a break. Wake up people. As another user said in their review: educate yourself.

Great documentary, Mr. Bell. Thank you for an honest film that sheds some reality on the Kratom discussion. I pray this documentary will help others out there to see the light; if Kratom becomes a Schedule I. drug, there will be a lot of deaths on the hands of the FDA, DEA, and ignorant Americans.