Is "nature's speedball" the latest South Florida drug craze?

It's been called "nature's speedball," because it can be stimulating and also have a relaxing and pain relieving effect.

While used as a medicinal plant in some countries, in places like South Florida, the Southeast Asian plant known as Kratom is making it harder for many people to stay sober.

Readily available online, at tobacco and head shops, Kava bars and specialty stores, the plant is becoming increasingly popular: some use it recreationally, others use it to manage pain, depression and other ailments and some even use it to help them beat addiction to harder drugs such as heroine, opium and pain pills.

"It's very easy to get," said Nancy Steiner, founder of The Sanctuary, a transitional living facility in Delray Beach for addicts in recovery. "It's not just a problem for the recovery community, but it's in high schools and colleges. It's a mass problem."

In the same family as the coffee tree, Kratom is known for its stimulating, euphoric effects in low doses.

At high doses, however, the plant can produce effects similar to those of opiates such as heroin and opium and opiate-based pharmaceutical drugs such as Vicodin, Hydrocodone, Codeine, Morphine and OxyContin.

In Thailand, natives have used kratom to treat hypertension, diarrhea, and depression because it has a soothing effect.

But when kratom is taken regularly at higher doses users can experience dependency and negative side effects such as nervousness, insomnia, and constipation.

Kratom is legal in the United States, but it has been placed on the Drug Enforcement Administration list of Drugs and Chemicals of Concern.

"There is no legitimate medical use for Kratom in the United States. However, it is marketed on the Internet as 'alternative medicine' for use as a pain killer, medicine for diarrhea, and other ailments and for the treatment of opiate addiction," says the DEA's drug fact sheet on Kratom.

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Is "nature's speedball" the latest South Florida drug craze?