Gas station opioids

Today, Explained

This episode examines the widespread availability of kratom and its potent derivative 7-OH at U.S. gas stations and convenience stores, highlighting how these substances have shifted from traditional herbal

Key takeaways

• Kratom is a Southeast Asian plant-derived powder that acts on opioid receptors but is generally considered less dangerous than prescription opioids, while 7-OH is an uber-potent extract up to 13 times stronger than morphine.
• University of Mississippi students Robert Strang and Aiden Hamilton recently died after reportedly using kratom-like substances, prompting police investigations and toxicology reports.

Main topics

• Kratom and 7-OH pharmacology
• Gas station drug availability

Notable quotes

"7-OH comes from within kratom and yeah it's like an uber potent extract that really i mean there's not much precedent for this you know being available right now."

Conclusion

The episode underscores the complex intersection of public health, corporate lobbying, and shifting political

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Today, Explained from Vox, Sean Ramos from Vox. You ever go into a gas station and you know you're paying at the counter and you look behind the clerk and there's a bunch of cigarettes but then next to the cigarettes are a bunch of zany products with even zanier names and you're like, what are those? Wait, I have to go, my kid's in the car. Right now in Northern Virginia, we're here to find out, what are those? Speaker 5 (0:23) Everything we handle, they go around the same components from the Kratom. One of them is the Super K. It is a beverage. It's mostly made of glycerin water. It has another alcohol level. Speaker 5 (0:36) Opium is another brand people usually trust. They usually try to make different components, I mean like a strawberry, grape, bubble gum. Speaker 3 (0:46) Some of these products are colloquially known as gas station heroin. And on the show today, we're going to ask... Speaker 6 (0:54) How is Speaker 3 (0:54) that legal? Speaker 1 (1:00) Hey guys, Cassidy Hubberth here. This week on And Mom, beloved reporter and beauty queen, Allie LaForce opens up about IVF and an incurable genetic disorder, the stress and shame of miscarriage, and the one thing that would have helped her with her transition into motherhood. Check out the latest episode of And Mom wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 6 (1:25) All right, so Speaker 3 (1:28) anyone who's ever been to a gas station in the United States knows there's like a CVS level of drugs behind the counter. But two of them are making news right now because of overdoses and regulations. So we asked Mata Busby to join us to talk about those two. He recently wrote about them for Wired. Well, there's Speaker 2 (1:48) Kratom and then there's 70H. They're separate but related. Thank you. Speaker 2 (1:56) So Kratom is, you know, from the coffee family. It's from Southeast Asia. It's a sort of dark green, really earthy sort of powder. And in lower doses, yeah, it's almost like matcha, but maybe a bit more euphoric. Speaker 1 (2:13) This is my favorite thing in the world for all natural energy. It's made from plants and it's been helping me get through my days for the past seven years. I'm almost done cleaning my kitchen, something I have been avoiding for days. Speaker 1 (2:28) Kratom, y'all. Kratom. The Speaker 6 (2:31) energy is like a more natural type of energy to where it always keeps you at a Speaker 2 (2:37) level, right? And then at higher doses gets even more euphoric. And Speaker 1 (2:42) I would say within about 10 minutes. I felt light as a feather. I just stared outside and Speaker 5 (2:50) watched a flock of birds fly away. Speaker 1 (2:52) And Speaker 2 (2:53) it was Speaker 5 (2:53) beautiful. Speaker 2 (2:55) And... works like an opioid. It works on the opioid system in your brain, which is why people with such addictions now take Kratom in a lot of cases, or they just take Kratom and fentanyl, 7-OH. comes from within kratom and yeah it's like an uber potent extract that really i mean there's not much precedent for this you know being available right now it's a very recent phenomenon you know very little research and yeah some studies suggest it's stronger than morphine that Speaker 6 (3:36) shit's strong bro like I got all loopy and it was like a tranquilizer. I Speaker 1 (3:42) just knew. Speaker 1 (3:44) from the moment I had it that I would always want it. Speaker 3 (3:50) I mean, we're talking about this now because it's been in the news a bunch lately, but how long has kratom Speaker 2 (3:55) been around? In the US, it's like a 21st century phenomenon, like the last 20, maybe 25 years. But traditional use goes back centuries in Southeast Asia, mostly in Thailand. It's like an evergreen tree, Mitragyna speciosa. And traditionally, people will chew one or two leaves or brew them into a tea. like to work longer hours, relieve pain, increase energy. And so, yeah, to see it kind of morphing into powders, capsules, extracts, shots. You know, if you get some like, you know, old Thai gentleman to see all of these like products in America, they, you know, probably either laugh or cry, right? Speaker 3 (4:39) I mean, this is widely available across this country in perhaps the most convenient place to get stuff in this country, a gas station. Have you tried it? I Speaker 2 (4:49) certainly have not. Yeah, I've actually tried Kratom a number of times. Because I don't drink alcohol, right? So whenever I'm in the US, and at times I was living in Vancouver and was coming to America often, when I'd be going to a new city or somewhere on a reporting gig... I would go to a Cava and Kratom bar and hang out if I didn't have anyone to hang out with, or indeed with a friend. We'd just go along rather than sinking pints of lager, which I've done a lot of and just prefer not to now. And so yeah, these bars are a very mellow vibe. How big is the industry, do we know? I mean, it's a multi-billion dollar industry. I think, you know, a couple billion. It's worth, like, you think about it, right? It's in like hundreds, you know, thousands of gas stations, like corner stores, bodegas, and there's all of these different brands. And, you know, they're selling it in all sorts of formulas from gummies to tea bags to pills to sort of little shots. And then there's Feel Free, which is this most well-known brand, which is like