Any Kava Users here?

The Coffee Shop
1

I’ve been trying it the last few nights, making the real deal.

Not sure how I feel about it. It’s effects seem relatively mild, which is maybe a good thing. It does seem to be “relaxing” but god it tastes awful. Not sure the juice is worth the squeeze, literally.

2

I heard it was tough on your liver.

3

Supposedly this occurred from bad batches that used the plant rather than just the roots of the plant. I’ve read studies that looked at regular users v.s nonusers amongst South Pacific islanders found no higher rates of liver failure amongst the users. So it appears reasonably safe as long as you don’t get a bad batch but it certainly adds to the consideration if it’s worth using.

4

From the NIH:

There are some BIG safety concerns about kava. Many cases of liver damage and even some deaths have been traced to kava use. As a result, kava has been banned from the market in Switzerland, Germany, and Canada, and several other countries are considering similar action. This ban has hurt the economies of Pacific Island countries that export kava.

From WebMD:

But the WHO report suggested that liver toxicity may be limited to kava formulations that used the whole kava plant, instead of just the root, or used acetone and ethanol to extract the active ingredient from the plant instead of water.
“Kava has been used in the Pacific Islands where it is grown for centuries without evidence of liver problems,” researcher Jerome Sarris, of Australia’s University of Queensland tells WebMD. “But they only use water-soluble extract and they only use the peeled root of the plant.”
Sarris says he used a product that mirrored the traditional kava used by the Pacific Islanders as closely as possible in his study, published in Psychopharmacology.

Seems like you need to pay attention when using this stuff. I’m not sure I’d risk it.

5

Seems like you need to get it from a reputable supplier is the main thing, which I guess is pretty hard to determine, and not use it everyday for months on end.

6

I’ve used it. Enh.
To me, it made me feel like I feel around 2 hours after I smoke pot. Not high, like in that first hour, but not normal either. Calm, but overall I wasn’t that into it. I did find it useful for things like very stressful family gatherings that it let me kinda ride through.
Probably been 10 years since I’ve taken it.

7

I’ve used it. Enh.
To me, it made me feel like I feel around 2 hours after I smoke pot. Not high, like in that first hour, but not normal either. Calm, but overall I wasn’t that into it. I did find it useful for things like very stressful family gatherings that it let me kinda ride through.
Probably been 10 years since I’ve taken it.

If you did not drink, or use other drugs, because you wanted to “quit while you were ahead” would you consider kava a threat to that strategy?
I think caffeine is ok.
But this seems a bit more powerful (in a mellowing way).

8

I tried it at the kona kava bar at hawaii a few years back, got numb lips and that was about it. I was very wary, so i probably needed to drink more. Read the book, “Getting Stoned with Savages” and i really got the inkling to try it out for real. Bought some good stuff from hawaii, but even a couple big glasses and i got nothing. I must be immune. I also tried two ambien once, and didn’t even get drowsy. Read studies where fighter pilots fell asleep at the switch on just one( simulator of course), so maybe i just got this wall for certain substances. Smoked pot a couple times in college, and had the huge paranoia that some get, so that was on the other end of the bell curve for me.

If you figure it out, let me know the particulars, i would like to give it another go. I’m always looking for something to chill my mind down before bed and help me sleep better. And check out that book, it is one in a series by the author that are cool travelogues.