Abstract
'Legal highs' are psychoactive synthetic or natural products that can be purchased from the internet or in retail stores without legal restriction. In 2011, the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction reported a rapid growth in legal high online sales mostly from the US and UK. Products from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa Korth (Kratom), a psychoactive plant from Southeast Asia, were the most common legal highs provided by internet suppliers. While the growing and selling of the plant are restricted in the source countries, products labeled as 'Kratom' are legally and widely distributed in western countries. In this study, ten commercial samples of Kratom were acquired from different UK-based websites. Phytochemical analyses of the samples were carried out using TLC, NMR, ESI-MS and HPLC techniques. Mitragynine (1), a psychoactive component possessing opiate-like effects was used as a standard marker, and was detected in all samples. Quantitative phytochemical analysis led to the isolation of other related indole alkaloids, demonstrating that the Kratom products were authentic and of plausible pharmacognostical origin. The presence of 7-hydroxy-mitragynine, the major µ-opioid agonist from this species was also confirmed, suggesting that these samples may have opiate-like harm potential.
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