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The Appropriation of Kava Almost Destroyed It. Will This Time Be Different? (Vice)

Skinskava

70-80 g to 1 Liter-Day Dreamer- My Roots Run Deep-
There’s something to be said of our community. How helpful all of you are and the good vibes. The shared love for the root and making it in the traditional manner. I selfishly worry about the future and the masses getting their hands on it. Will they treat it with reverence and respect or simply an addition to a “legal high” cocktail. (Weve seen this on a smaller scale at SOME kava bars.) We know for many years on the web in the early 2000’s this was many of the experiences and stories surrounding kava in America. It was described as something crazy or dangerous. When reslly it was misunderstood. Theres a non selfish part of me That realizes how much this plant has helped me and I want the farmers and their communites to be able to profit off increased exportation . Time will tell but anytime the masses get their hands on something “foreign” to them they find a way to mess things up. Keep poltics away from the root and respect it always.
 

Zaphod

Kava Lover
There’s something to be said of our community. How helpful all of you are and the good vibes. The shared love for the root and making it in the traditional manner. I selfishly worry about the future and the masses getting their hands on it. Will they treat it with reverence and respect or simply an addition to a “legal high” cocktail. (Weve seen this on a smaller scale at SOME kava bars.) We know for many years on the web in the early 2000’s this was many of the experiences and stories surrounding kava in America. It was described as something crazy or dangerous. When reslly it was misunderstood. Theres a non selfish part of me That realizes how much this plant has helped me and I want the farmers and their communites to be able to profit off increased exportation . Time will tell but anytime the masses get their hands on something “foreign” to them they find a way to mess things up. Keep poltics away from the root and respect it always.
I thought this way for a while.....but to be honest Kava will never be that big in the US. It certainly has lots of room to grow, but it will never supplant alcohol and weed. Alcohol is much too woven into the fabric of our culture, As for becoming a legal "high"....lets face it it is pretty self limiting, and who cares if that is how someone wants to use it? Certainly a lot safer than other alternatives with none of the societal impacts of other physically and mentally addictive drugs that can lead to damaging health impacts and increases in crime.
 

Skinskava

70-80 g to 1 Liter-Day Dreamer- My Roots Run Deep-
I thought this way for a while.....but to be honest Kava will never be that big in the US. It certainly has lots of room to grow, but it will never supplant alcohol and weed. Alcohol is much too woven into the fabric of our culture, As for becoming a legal "high"....lets face it it is pretty self limiting, and who cares if that is how someone wants to use it? Certainly a lot safer than other alternatives with none of the societal impacts of other physically and mentally addictive drugs that can lead to damaging health impacts and increases in crime.
I agree with your response. More so my point was how mixing other substances with it can lead to side effects and issues that wouldn’t otherwise occur. Thus furthering misconceptions surrounding the root
 

ThePiper

Kava Lover
One benefit of it becoming bigger is that I think we are beginning to pass the point of the health scares. We have more data to pull from and advisories for safe use can be considered. The west now sees that kava is not just some sketchy “voodoo potion” but rather that it is what the native drinkers have said it was all along. Shocking!
 

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
One benefit of it becoming bigger is that I think we are beginning to pass the point of the health scares. We have more data to pull from and advisories for safe use can be considered. The west now sees that kava is not just some sketchy “voodoo potion” but rather that it is what the native drinkers have said it was all along. Shocking!
I surely hope that inclusion of the codex by the FDA will address this by removing the liver warnings. The liver warnings are the bane of so many people's kava existence. It's a never-ending battle trying to say the FDA is wrong in their hepatotoxicity assumptions, and they're just that, assumptions.

In regards to the height of the 90s kava craze, I feel like, at least in the United States, we've far surpassed that level in terms of our consumption. Considering we don't have hundreds of thousands of adverse event reports regarding kava, I believe it's safe to say the fabricated negative safety aspect of kava is simply a scare tactic used by those that don't understand this plant.
 

Alia

'Awa Grower/Collector
I surely hope that inclusion of the codex by the FDA will address this by removing the liver warnings. The liver warnings are the bane of so many people's kava existence. It's a never-ending battle trying to say the FDA is wrong in their hepatotoxicity assumptions, and they're just that, assumptions.

In regards to the height of the 90s kava craze, I feel like, at least in the United States, we've far surpassed that level in terms of our consumption. Considering we don't have hundreds of thousands of adverse event reports regarding kava, I believe it's safe to say the fabricated negative safety aspect of kava is simply a scare tactic used by those that don't understand this plant.
Your comment along with the Vice story are 2 of the most excellently (is that a word?) summarized, true, understandable, kava writings I've seen.
We not longer see the extracts in the forefront, that's for sure. If you compare Dennis McKenna talk from 1998 (with very frequent extract, pill references)
to his comments more recently regarding the value of the traditional beverage it multiplies the changes.
 
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