Watch the hands, not the eyes. Danger is revealed in movements more than words. What's your best tip for staying safe?

What is it and what’s the problem? The leaves from a tree native to Southeast Asia, Kratom is a herbal medicine with effects similar to opioids. It is most often found as a powder in the United States, in capsule or tea form and more recently, and concentrated extracts. 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, is a highly potent compound, semi-synthetically derived, and added to Kratom products in concentrated form. And much like any opiate, it is also highly addictive. It’s how we see caffeine energy drinks that are in these tiny containers with extremely high levels of caffeine. People can end up with heart attacks if they drink several of those, whereas you would have to drink a significantly higher amount of coffee to get into health problems. Kratom and it's 7-OH derivatives are currently unregulated in the United States and being sold in nearly every gas station convenience store and head shop in America. Hence the “Gas Station Heroin” tag. Using these products and combining them with other substances (legal and illegal) have been linked to possible overdoses and deaths. A new paper just published looking at 551 deaths in Florida where 7-OH was detected post-mortem. In 93.5% of these cases, at least one other chemical was found in the system. The County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner recently identified ten fatal overdoses associated with 7-OH ingestion in LA County residents between the ages of 18 to 40 years old. https://ktla.com/news/local-news/deadly-7-oh-kratom-overdoses-confirmed-in-los-angeles-county/ The picture is of two out of about fifty different products containing concentrated 7-OH from our local gas station. Cheap, easy, readily available, no questions asked, flashy/effective marketing, and highly concentrated. Do you know what your kids are buying? Stay Safe - Stay Vigilant, S&J The Vigilant Family