Mitragynine is the primary active ingredient in kratom. It has opiate like effects (mild pain relieving / mood boosting effect) even though it's dissimilar from morphine in structure.
Apparently if you ferment kratom with yeast, you can convert the mitragynine to mitragiyine pseudoindoxyl, which is 20 fold more potent than morphine, causes less respiratory depression, and doesn't cause habituation as fast. [Note, the papers cited report the results of experiments done in mice; however, anecdotal reports suggest that similar effects are found in humans.]
Obviously, if such claims are true it would be a huge boon. Unfortunately, the DEA tried to ban kratom in 2016. They reversed their decision after intense public outcry, but it's still on their list of "Drugs of Concern".
Yamamoto, L. T., Horie, S., Takayama, H., Aimi, N., Sakai, S., Yano, S., … Watanabe, K. (1999). Opioid receptor agonistic characteristics of mitragynine pseudoindoxyl in comparison with mitragynine derived from Thai medicinal plant Mitragyna speciosa. General Pharmacology: The Vascular System, 33(1), 73–81. doi:10.1016/s0306-3623(98)00265-1
https://sci-hub.do/10.1016/s0306-3623(98)00265-1
Váradi, A., Marrone, G. F., Palmer, T. C., Narayan, A., Szabó, M. R., Le Rouzic, V., … Majumdar, S. (2016). Mitragynine/Corynantheidine Pseudoindoxyls As Opioid Analgesics with Mu Agonism and Delta Antagonism, Which Do Not Recruit β-Arrestin-2. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 59(18), 8381–8397. doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00748
https://sci-hub.do/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00748
Apparently if you ferment kratom with yeast, you can convert the mitragynine to mitragiyine pseudoindoxyl, which is 20 fold more potent than morphine, causes less respiratory depression, and doesn't cause habituation as fast. [Note, the papers cited report the results of experiments done in mice; however, anecdotal reports suggest that similar effects are found in humans.]
Obviously, if such claims are true it would be a huge boon. Unfortunately, the DEA tried to ban kratom in 2016. They reversed their decision after intense public outcry, but it's still on their list of "Drugs of Concern".
Yamamoto, L. T., Horie, S., Takayama, H., Aimi, N., Sakai, S., Yano, S., … Watanabe, K. (1999). Opioid receptor agonistic characteristics of mitragynine pseudoindoxyl in comparison with mitragynine derived from Thai medicinal plant Mitragyna speciosa. General Pharmacology: The Vascular System, 33(1), 73–81. doi:10.1016/s0306-3623(98)00265-1
https://sci-hub.do/10.1016/s0306-3623(98)00265-1
Váradi, A., Marrone, G. F., Palmer, T. C., Narayan, A., Szabó, M. R., Le Rouzic, V., … Majumdar, S. (2016). Mitragynine/Corynantheidine Pseudoindoxyls As Opioid Analgesics with Mu Agonism and Delta Antagonism, Which Do Not Recruit β-Arrestin-2. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 59(18), 8381–8397. doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00748
https://sci-hub.do/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00748