TY - JOUR PY - 2019// TI - Motives for using kratom (Mitragyna speciosa korth.) among regular users in Malaysia JO - Journal of ethnopharmacology A1 - Singh, Darshan A1 - Narayanan, Suresh A1 - Müller, Christian P. A1 - Swogger, Marc T. A1 - Chear, Nelson Jeng Yeou A1 - Dzulkapli, Eshal Bin A1 - Yusoff, Nur Sabrina Mohd A1 - Ramachandram, Dinesh Sangarran A1 - León, Francisco A1 - McCurdy, Christopher R. A1 - Vicknasingam, Balasingam SP - 34 EP - 40 VL - 233 IS - N2 - ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The leaves of Mitragyna speciosa (Korth.) or kratom have been traditionally used in Malaysia and Thailand mainly to enhance work productivity, as a folk remedy for treating common ailments, and as a mood enhancer.

AIM OF THE STUDY: This present study sought to investigate kratom use motives among regular kratom users in Malaysia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 116 regular kratom users were recruited for this cross-sectional survey. The Drinking Motives Questionnaire (DMQ) was administered to measure kratom use motives.

RESULTS: Our results indicate that heavy (>3 glasses daily, each glass contains 48.24-50.4mg of mitragynine) kratom use was associated with coping (t_87.09=3.544, p<0.001), and enhancement (t₁₁₄=2.180, p=003). Single subjects had higher mean scores on the coping domain, relative to married subject (t_113.89=3.029, p<0.003), while those earning more than RM1,500 per month had higher mean scores on the enhancement domain, compare to those earning less than RM1,500 per month (t₁₀₇=2.151, p<0.034). Higher scores on the coping domain was significantly associated with higher (>3 glasses daily) kratom consumption (p<0.0045).

CONCLUSIONS: Coping was associated with high (>3 glasses daily) kratom consumption among regular kratom users in traditional, rural settings.

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Language: en

LA - en SN - 0378-8741 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2018.12.038 ID - ref1 ER -