Florida's Unregulated Kratom Market

In the United States, Kratom is sold in its concentrated form, oftentimes in potent capsules or liquid shots. Kratom is a tropical plant with leaves that contain a chemical compound with similar effects to opioids.

The Kratom industry is worth roughly $1.5 billion, but unregulated.

For this installment of our "Local Spotlight" series, we take a closer look at The Tampa Bay Times investigation into kratom in Florida. Reporters found that more than 580 died from a kratom-involved overdose in Florida the last decade. Most of those deaths involved other substances too, but 46 were due to kratom alone.

We discuss what we know about Kratom, its possibilities, dangers and why it's unregulated.

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