Risk society and the fight for kratom use

Abstract

This research argues that the rise of alternative medicine and health supplements is best understood within the context of the 'risk society'. The dual pressures of deregulation in the health sector of the economy and the dominance of Big Pharma, has the consequences of proliferating the use of non-sanctioned forms of health care. The Southeast Asian plant Kratom is one such illustration of this phenomenon. Drawing from over 200 Reddit posts on r/Kratom, this research analyzes the reaction of the kratom community to attempts by the Food and Drug Administration and Drug Enforcement Administration to restrict access to the botanical. Ulrich Beck's work on 'risk society' is combined with the recent literature on neoliberalism to analyze the narratives emerging from the community of kratom users. Using theme-based coding, the findings revealed tent-pole sentiments of 1) A desire for treatment agency and personal liberty, 2) Fear of regression or return to risk, and 3) Disdain and distrust of regulatory agencies and the pharmaceutical industry. Parallels to Beck's risk society were extant in the thematically related passages, including 1) the commonality of anxiety, 2) the loss of monopoly on knowledge from authoritative institutions, 3) the transition from patient ignorance versus being their own auxiliary doctor in the modern era, and 4) the power of corporatocracy overshadowing the traditional preeminence of the state. These arguments indicate a more nuanced understanding of neoliberalism is required. While typically seen as a way of freeing up capitalist markets for the benefit of large corporations such as Big Pharma, neoliberalism's emphasis on self-reliance and entrepreneurialism also provides a frame of resistance for those non-corporate actors threatened by State regulation. These findings enhance our understanding of the role of States and sub-community resistance in Ulrich Beck's theory of 'risk society'. In the context of risk society, the kratom community's experience with mainstream medicine and subsequently the pharmaceutical industry has made them distrusting of the state due to its failings to properly police such institutions and would rather be left to their own devices to decide what is and isn't appropriate for their respective conditions.