How ketum is abused
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Ketum leaves and a drink made from them which have been seized by the police. |
The plant can reach a height of 15m with a spread of 5m and the leaves are dark glossy green in colour. The flowers are small and yellow and look like a bishop's mitre (which gave rise to its scientific name Mitragyna).
Long-term users of ketum apparently become thin and their skin darkens, particularly on the cheeks. Traditionally villagers in the north and east of the country and Southern Thailand use it to withstand the long hours toiling in the sun working in rice fields.
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Prof Ikram Said |
Another not so palatable-sounding process is mixing it with dried cow dung and tobacco, rolling it into a cigarette and smoking it. The leaves can also be mixed with dried coconut, ginger, onions, nutmeg and lime and rolled with daun kaduk (wild pepper leaf) and chewed like daun sirih (beetle nut leaves).
There’s also the popular method of boiling the leaves in a container of water, sieving the residue and rolling them into small balls to be dried and smoked later. – By S.S. YOGA
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