Of course we can all agree the product and marketing is irresponsible and threatens safety etc, I think you’re being a tad bit hyperbolic in this post. Idk if it’s due to propaganda you’ve seen or just frustration with the idiots selling these products disingenuously but this is a skewed presentation of the harms of the plant itself. Let’s learn a lesson from drug prohibition lest we become a cog in the war machine.
Maybe I am wrong, but it seems to me that kava will soon be under similar fire for withdrawal symptoms (however unfounded) as it is introduced to the masses and hypersensitive people make posts all over the internet about how kava causes withdrawal effects “worse than benzo withdrawal.”
These posts are popping up more and more. It’s not going to be equivalent to r/quittingk, but this is what happens when a plant goes mainstream.
I don't normally speak for people, but I think he'd allow me to speak for him in this instance. It's frustration. There is some absolute stupidity out there in regards to that substance, passed around as solid fact, based simply on emotions and nothing else. Sounds similar to what we're addressing in the next topic, withdrawal.
Here's the thing with withdrawal in regards to kava. There is no scientific evidence with kava, or concentrated kavalactones that would suggest any type of physiological withdrawal. Opinions will be had, for sure, but this is where we draw the line. Hard facts usurp individuals opinions in regards to pharmacology. It's difficult for most people to wrap their minds around the possibility that kava is not a direct GABA agonist, nor does it work like your standard PAMs. Quite honestly it seems kavalactones are more akin to the actions of gabapentin, but even that misses the mark, as kavalactones have shown to REDUCE GABA levels in areas of the brain responsible for anxiety, where gabapentin does the opposite and indirectly increases levels of GABA ubiquitously. Also the chances of hitting Chua's 300µM concentration level in cerebrospinal fluid is.....far from possible unless you're shooting kavalactone paste right into your brain. In short, you would need 96 grams of kavain to achieve anywhere near this 300µM concentration level shown to strongly modulate GABA. (
@ThePiper not directed at you, my good man, I say these things just in case someone might think they can say it does cause withdrawals, and ends up here through a search)
Now, does my above statement stop people from claiming it? Nope, not a chance, however this is where we as individuals come in. If you see someone making this claim of withdrawal, engage them, send them here, or tag me in.
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Savage, Karen, Jerome Sarris, Matthew Hughes, Chad A. Bousman, Susan Rossell, Andrew Scholey, Con Stough, and Chao Suo. 2023. “Neuroimaging Insights: Kava’s (Piper Methysticum) Effect on Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex GABA in Generalized Anxiety Disorder.”
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