Kratom is controversial because its health benefits and potential side effects are still being studied, at least in the Western world.  Funding for such studies is difficult to secure as a positive outcome is a direct threat to many of the pharmaceutical industries most lucrative products.  In the United States, kratom is being handled somewhat similar to cannabis as local and federal government sort of ‘looks the other way’ and unofficially allows its use to continue while testing is taking place.  Also similar to cannabis, increased kratom use has not led to a national health emergency; the government mostly wants to make sure people aren’t using kratom under false claims when they should be taking something else proven to be effective.