The first time I tried Kratom was in 2009. It was quite expensive, I bought like 10 grams or so and first time tried only like one gram. I remember the awful bitter taste, and no good effect (likely too small dose). That discouraged me. There wasn’t a lot of information about Kratom back then....
I'll start - for me, it's a social lubricant, it works basically in the same way as alcohol, but with way fewer side effects and no hangover in the next day. My alcohol consumption reduced as a result....