Alexander J Karp

Co-Founder / Head of Development

The pain from my degenerating disc in my lower back, made me envision a future I did not even want to be a part of.
Kratom did what I never thought possible –Kratom gave me pain relief and in a literal sense…gave me my life back.

My name is Alexander Karp, co-founder of Etha Naturals, and this is the story that started our mission to become the most trusted source of accessible, convenient, and reliable kratom products…with the hope that Etha Kratom could help someone’s life the way it has helped mine.
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In my youth years, I was very active and my life revolved around playing club soccer. One season, freshman year in High School, I “tweaked” my back and I was forced to sit on the sidelines due to an injury. Even after going to my HMO doctor, 6 months of physical therapy and strength training…my back and my soccer playing ability didn’t feel like a 100%, until I finally listened to my soccer coach and went to a chiropractor.

At that point I learned 2 things;
1. I have a degenerative disc, that can severely and dramatically affect the activities and quality of my life.
2. For chronic pain, I couldn't just “go to the doctor”, I needed to manage my health and wellness.

For several decades, I used physical therapy, a healthy diet, exercise, breathwork, yoga, and chiropractic care to manage this pain. However, even with this routine, I would experience 4-7 days of extreme pain every 1-2 years. As I became older these periodic pain episodes became more frequent and lasted longer. Every time that happened, I thought “what if THIS is the time my back doesn't get better?” “what if THIS is the time my life and activities change forever?”
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In the middle of 2016, my “what if" started to become my reality. The 1 week turned into 2, then 3. By the time I was 5-month in to this mind-numbing back-pain episode; running/exercising…out of the question, walking…painful, standing…pain, laying down…still pain. Even sleeping was an elusive memory.

An MRI confirmed my pain was due to the worsening degenerating disc, between my L5-S1 vertebrae.

The doctor basically laughed when I asked about stem cells. Which at the time shredded the last glimmer of hope. Along with more physical therapy and rest, I tried everything; muscle relaxers (gave me night sweats), inversion tables (literally hanging from doorways by my ankles, good for about 5 minutes of pain relief), CBD/THC (great for distracting me while siting at home…but nothing for the pain), you name I was trying it.
I felt hopeless and fearful about what my “life” would become.
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I stopped playing sports, I stopped traveling, I stopped going out with friends…just about everything I loved…stopped.
This is when depression, anger, and bitterness started to grow. The physical pain caused mental pain and I literally started thinking; “I don’t even want a family and kids one day because I won't be able to pick them up and celebrate life.”

My pain took control of my life, pain was my life... until I tried Kratom in December of 2016.
When I consume kratom, my pain goes from a 10 to a 2-3. With kratom my excruciating pain just dissolves into the background! Exercise, yoga, spending time with friends and family, traveling, playing sports! All of the things I love, I can do again! Kratom is an absolute miracle!

As I continued to experiment with kratom for my back pain, I found some kratom worked…and some did not. I wanted to learn more. I wanted to understand how kratom helped with pain and my mood and which ‘type’ or ‘variety’ would be best for me.

I am data driven and I am also very, very curious. After I graduated college, I was an engineer for Hewlett Packard (R&D, Metrology and testing, and Product Innovation) for more than a decade. I also grew up around pharmacokinetics and understanding how drugs works because my mom was a pharmacist. This led me to some important questions:
How does kratom work? Is kratom too good to be true?
How do I make sure I have the kratom I need to be able to live my life?
Will I get addicted to kratom? Will kratom stop working for me?

Fortunately, there is quite a bit of research on the active alkaloids in kratom (at least in animals). I went deep into the rabbit hole of NIH.gov peer-reviewed research and any source of information I could get a hold of. I've reviewed hundreds of research articles, digging into the primary data, case reports, kratom survey, kratom patents…everything from the 1960s to the current research being published through 2024!
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With Etha Natural Botanicals, for the last 7 years, I've been on a journey of researching kratom alkaloids, self-experimenting with kratom and extracts, importing kratom leaves, developing kratom products (tablets, mints, and drinks), improving testing standards, advocating for kratom regulation, and traveling around the world to grow and harvest the best kratom in the world (Indonesia, Thailand, Colombia, Brazil). Thanks to Etha Kratom, with transparency in test results, blended consistency in alkaloids, and convenient proprietary tablets, I have what I need to manage my back-pain, and live a full and happy life! Live Fully!