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)
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.