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Abstract
Objectives
Despite widespread kratom use, there is a lack of knowledge regarding its effects on driving. We evaluated the self-reported driving behaviors of kratom consumers and assessed their simulated-driving performance after self-administering kratom products.
Methods
We present results from: 1) a remote, national study of US adults who regularly use kratom, and 2) an in-person substudy from which we re-recruited participants. In the national study (N = 357), participants completed a detailed survey and a 15-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) that monitored naturalistic kratom use. For the remote study, outcomes were self-reported general and risky driving behaviors, perceived impairment, and driving confidence following kratom administration. For the in-person substudy, 10 adults consumed their typical kratom products and their driving performance on a high-fidelity driving simulator pre- and post-kratom administration was evaluated.
Results
Over 90% of participants surveyed self-reported driving under the influence of kratom. Most reported low rates of risky driving behavior and expressed high confidence in their driving ability after taking kratom. This was consistent with EMA findings: participants reported feeling confident in their driving ability and perceived little impairment within 15-180 min after using kratom. In the in-person substudy, there were no significant changes in simulated driving performance after taking kratom.
Conclusions
Using kratom before driving appears routine, however, self-reported and simulated driving findings suggest kratom effects at self-selected doses among regular kratom consumers do not produce significant changes in subjective and objective measures of driving impairment. Research is needed to objectively characterize kratom’s impact on driving in regular and infrequent consumers.
Acknowledgements
We thank the support staff of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program for outstanding contributions to the implementation of this study.
Disclosure statement
KED has consulted for Mind Med, Della Terra, and DemeRx and been on advisory boards/steering committees for Cessation Therapeutics and Indivior. KES has been a paid scientific advisor to the International Plant and Herbal Alliance. All authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Data availability statement
The data underlying this article will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author.