A lot of people drink coffee to stay alert and get themselves through the day but if I have too much caffeine it ends up making my chest and arm area feel tight and constricted. After visiting a doctor and doing an EKG he said I was fine but to lay off the caffeine. Enter kratom, which my father actually gave me. It is an amazing plant. Instead of the tightness I was feeling on caffeine and the jitters from it, I felt alert and focused and had no side effects from the kratom. Zero jitters. That was six years ago and I still take it several times a day in lieu of coffee. I also used to travel to Thailand at least once a year and kratom was (up until recently) banned there so I had to stop taking kratom cold turkey. I had zero side effects each time I had to do this. It is not an addictive drug, at least not for the majority of people. Alcohol is legal yet I can guarantee it's WAY more addictive that kratom. Kratom has helped so many people get off of their opiate addictions and has helped people with pain management. Are there people addicted to kratom? Probably. But I feel the pros FAR outweigh the cons. There are people that are addicted to eating paper (xylophagia) and you don't see paper being banned. Don't ban kratom. Your actions will end up hurting more people than helping.