Please join Best Video, local documentarian Steve Hamm, and filmmaker Gorman Bechard for a special screening of Hamm’s THE MYSTERIES OF KRATOM on Tuesday, September 24th at 7pm. There will be a post-screening discussion and Q&A with director Steve Hamm and an addiction medicine expert moderated by Bechard. Tickets are $15.

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

The Mysteries of Kratom is a feature-length, journalistic documentary that tells the story of kratom, a Southeast Asian tree whose leaves are used in traditional medicine there to deal with pain, exhaustion, diabetes, and other maladies. Now, scientists around the world are investigating kratom to see if it can be harnessed to help address the opioid crisis—as a pain-reliever substitute for opioids and a way to wean people off opioid addiction.

In recent years, kratom-based products have been sold widely in the United States, with promises to address pain and anxiety and help people deal with opioid addiction. These sales take place in a gray market because the concoctions are not approved by the FDA for human consumption. Still, many people in the United States swear by kratom-based products even while others blame them for contributing to deaths of their loved ones.

Truth be told, not much is known for certain about kratom, and much of the information spread about it is misleading or downright wrong. This film examines the kratom phenomenon through personal, professional, and scientific lenses. It is the first journalistic, scientific documentary made with the goal of helping people understand the potential for kratom to do good or ill.