Abstract
Background | The herbal drug kratom has grown in popularity in recent years. The reasons may lie in the process of globalisation, the offer of online shops, and the variability of effects according to the dosage.
Aims | This research project consists of two independent studies. The objective of the first study was to map the prevalence of kratom use.
The main aim of the second study was to describe the awareness and supply of kratom. Methods | The data was collected through online cross-sectional questionnaire surveys.
The sample consisted of university students selected by means of convenient non-representative sampling. The sample of the first study consisted of 197 respondents.
They were recruited on Facebook using the snowball method. The second survey was shared via Facebook and Instagram and involved 70 respondents.
Results | The lifetime prevalence reached 21.8% in the first study. 18.3% of the students had used kratom in the last year and 11.2% had used it in the last month. Males showed higher prevalence than females.
The usage was most prevalent among art students. The respondents were most likely to have used kratom for the first time at the age of 18 to 20.
It generally involved one-off experience or occasional use. The data obtained from the second study shows that 44.3% of the respondents are aware of adverse effects and 10% perceive the risk of addiction; 22.8% purchased kratom from an online shop; 4.3% reported purchasing it in a brick-and-mortar shop.
Lifetime prevalence reached 31.4% in the second study. Conclusion | Our research indicates that nearly one third of the university students in our samples have used kratom.
In most cases, this involved one-off experience or occasional use. Although our samples were non-representative and the prevalence may be overestimated, kratom use should be closely monitored because of its growing popularity.