Can You Snort Kratom?

Are you serious? If you're asking this question, there's a good chance you're not old enough to consume kratom in the first place.

Most kratom sold in the United States is leaf material that is dried up and ground into a fine powder. Consumers use this by stirring it into a drink or making a tea.

Smoking or snorting kratom is not advisable. These are just crappy ways to consume kratom, and you're likely wasting it - if these were effective methods of ingestion, they would already be a common practice. Unless you a masochist who enjoys 30 minute coughing fits or the worst sinus headache you've ever had in your life, don't smoke or snort kratom.

Ground up plant powder is much too harsh to be smoked. Kratom leaf does not have the resins of tobacco or cannabis, and would therefore be extremely harsh on the lungs. Despite what ill-informed media reports say, smoking kratom is neither traditional nor common.

Anyone who snorts kratom will end up with nothing but a terrible headache. Psychoactive substances that are snorted, for example cocaine and heroin, are purified derivatives of their source plants. People are not drying coca leaf to a fine powder and snorting it. These substances also have a numbing effect on the nasal cavity that other purified powders don't have.

In a 2018 interview on Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, actor/filmmaker Peter Fonda spoke about substance use during the filming of Easy Rider. When asked if the substances consumed in the movie were real, Fonda said the cannabis was real, however, "[Co-Producer Dennis] Hopper promised me that was gonna be real coke. Don't ever snort sugar! Ah man, the side of your head will absolutely blow away! It is so painful to snort powdered sugar. Thank you Dennis, you son of a bitch."

The same can be said of snorting kratom.

Traditionally, fresh kratom leaves are either chewed and spat out (like chewing tobacco), or brewed into a tea. Since traditional use of fresh kratom leaves seems to have fewer negative health outcomes than more modern use, it would be advisable to consume kratom as close to the way people have consumed it for hundreds of years in Thailand: in low doses, and by brewing a tea.

High dose kratom use, and kratom use to get "high" by trying to smoke or snort it misses the entire point. Respect the plant, and yourself, and you are more likely to have a beneficial experience.