What is the likelihood that you’ll experience a problem with a product labeled as kratom? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Over a thousand fold in the last year. That’s the increase in the number of emergency department visits nationally due to use of kratom, a drug sold unregulated in convenience stores and gas stations as well as online. Substance use disorder expert Eric Strain at Johns Hopkins says this is an emerging problem as what is marketed as kratom may not be kratom.

Strain: Overdosing on kratom itself, if it's kratom which is this plant product generally has not been associated with significant medical problems. The problem is people are potentially using what they think is kratom but it's not, it's something else. Could be 7 hydroxymitragynine could be fentanyl. Who knows what's in there because it's an unregulated product. There was recently some discussion about scheduling 7 hydroxymitragynine and trying to shut down its potential availability through things like gas stations.    :33

Strain says consumers need to support such efforts. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.