ATLANTA — More Americans are using kratom than ever before, and newly released data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows it’s happening with the young and old alike.
The CDC said Thursday that across the United States, kratom-related calls to poison control centers were on the rise, particularly among men ages 40 to 59 years old.
Kratom exposure reports were up to a record high in 2025, showing what the CDC said was a 1,200% increase compared to 2015.
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In 2025, there were 3,434 reported exposures across the U.S.
Patrick Filkins, who works at Emory University and the Georgia Poison Center, told WSB Radio that more than 500 of those cases were in Georgia.
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“Since 2021, we’ve had about 543 cases of kratom exposure called into the Georgia Poison Center. It’s been a 66% increase between 2022 and 2025 alone,” Filkins said, adding that there’d been a significant increase of exposures among children. “One of the more concerning data points that we have is a 400% increase from 2024 and 2025 in exposures to kids five and under.”
That means Georgia accounted for nearly 16% of all kratom exposure cases handled by Poison Centers, nationally.
Filkins told WSB Radio that gummies and lollipops containing kratom were part of the issue.
He also said 76% of the kratom exposures in Georgia in 2025 required management at a healthcare facility.
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