Joanna Bernstein is a writer originally from Pittsburgh who now resides in Oregon. In 2014 Joanna had a painful bacterial infection that started her on opiates. She eventually developed an addiction and wrote about her experience with recovery in a "3/4 house" in Pittsburgh's Carrick neighborhood. Later she would nearly relapse after being denied pain medication for Stage 4 endometriosis. That's when Joanna discovered kratom.

We also talk about Oregon's Measure 110 that decriminalized possession of small amounts of any illicit drug in the state, and directed funds from Oregon's legal recreational cannabis to expanded addiction treatment. We talk about kratom as medication assisted treatment, harm reduction, kratom extracts, and kratom as an alternative to illicit opioids when people in pain are refused medication by doctors.

Follow Joanna Bernstein on Twitter @JoannaPgh

Articles by Joanna Bernstein:

• 2020: "A three-quarter home in Pittsburgh was a key stop in my recovery from opioid addiction". Public Source. https://www.publicsource.org/three-quarter-home-pittsburgh-recovery-from-opioid-addiction/
• 2020: "COVID-19 changes the landscape of drug treatment and challenges providers and patients". Public Source. https://www.publicsource.org/covid-19-changes-the-landscape-of-drug-treatment-and-challenges-providers-and-patients/
• 2021: "After ICE: Life in a Guatemalan immigrant community in rural Ohio". Belt Magazine. https://beltmag.com/guatemalan-immigrant-dover-ohio-ice/

Kratom Science is on Facebook.com/kratomscience and Twitter @kratomscience