The withdrawals (if properly tapered) are about as bad as caffeine withdrawals for a heavy coffee drinker. However, they can be mitigated much easier than opiate withdrawals, which is why a lot of people use it as a stepping stone.
It's certainly not free from addiction (it does after all, contain μ-opioid receptor agonists, among other things), but it looks like it's got a lower addiction profile for the level of pain relief it provides. It's worth looking into.
It's also possible it may have applications in addictions management with people who are on harder things.
But yeah, everything with a grain of salt, and it's good to be aware there is a risk.
> It's certainly not free from addiction (it does after all, contain μ-opioid receptor agonists
It's not quite as simple as 'all mu-opioid agonists are bad'.
Mitragynine and 7-OH-mitragyine (the primary alkaloids in kratom) have been shown to be G-protein biased - which is why tolerance doesn't build like it does with almost every other opioid, why the side effects such as constipation are much less, why many people appear to have very mild withdrawals, and perhaps most importantly why it doesn't cause respiratory depression (this is what kills with most opioids)
Psychologically speaking nothing is free from addiction if a person is composed in a way to have such a proclivity. There are people addicted to huffing compressed air duster spray. Though I've never been hooked, I can only imagine the comedown and withdrawls are rather, uh, not fun?
What my point is - that you likely missed - is the innate "harm reduction" pursuit with respect to long-term therapies. Opiates have a use for sure but I think eventually the dosage / toxicity becomes a valid concern. Then up to the next threshold of potency, and on and on. If Kratom has just 50% better results than opiate treatments in equivalent doses, that's a great discovery in my opinion.
All this talk about being "health care consumers" really looks like bullshit when we get down to the nitty-gritty of Doctors still holding power with their pens and pads and saying Yes or No with the DEA looking over their shoulder.
Some experiences- https://www.drugs.com/forum/need-talk/please-help-me-kratom-...