Research on kratom and cannabis has largely focused on their major alkaloids and THC/CBD respectively, as these compounds are easier to isolate and purify.

“No one to my knowledge has studied anything other than the alkaloids in the cranium plant. Likewise with cannabis, a lot of it hasn't been explored besides THC and CBD. Um, and many of it is is because it's s in such low quantity. And coming back to the point when we talk about most of those studies that have been in the literature have been done with the major alkaloid because that's the thing that people can get a hold of. It's easy to isolate purify and if it's the major alkaloid by default it should be causing the activity.”