Health officials to urge caution around kratom, other substances after Mississippi student deaths
by Shelby Lofton ksl · KSL.comKEY TAKEAWAYS
- Mississippi student deaths prompt warnings about kratom and other substances nationally.
- Kratom, found at both scenes, is available in Utah despite recent legislation.
- Experts urge caution with kratom, emphasizing potential dangers and lack of FDA approval.
SALT LAKE CITY — The deaths of two University of Mississippi students have sparked a national conversation about kratom and other potentially dangerous substances, prompting warnings from health experts and renewed discussions on college campuses, including those in Utah.
Authorities have not released an official cause of death. However, they have said kratom was found at both scenes.
As the investigation continues, social media posts warning students about contaminated substances have gained traction online. One post from BarstoolUtes, an account not affiliated with the University of Utah, cautioned students about potentially contaminated products and mentioned cychlorphine, a synthetic opioid that can appear in tablets and gummies.
Dr. Brandon Forsyth, who works to identify and test emerging substances at the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said cychlorphine is not a drug most people are likely to encounter frequently.
Forsyth and the Salt Lake County Health Department said there is currently no evidence that cychlorphine is in Utah, but it can be introduced into any type of product.
Kratom, however, is readily available through gas stations, smoke shops and online retailers, though recent legislation passed in Utah changed that.
Only whole-leaf kratom is available in Utah smoke shops to people 21 and older. Synthetic or enhanced supplements are banned, but Dr. Forsyth warned that they could still be sitting on shelves since the law was passed so recently.
Health experts say kratom and cychlorphine are used as both stimulants and sedatives.
"Similar to caffeine as a stimulant," Dr. Forsyth said. "The opioid effects are more strong, but like morphine. So you're going to see very pronounced sedative effects, and those, if you've done too much, you might even see unconsciousness or shallow breathing."
They also warn that consumers may not realize how much they are taking, particularly when products are packaged as drinks or supplements.
"You think, 'Oh, I should drink this whole little bottle like a 5-hour Energy,'" said Dr. Ashley Yaugher with Utah State University Extension. "With kratom products, it's not like that. On the back of it, it has serving sizes. If you're not aware of that, you can unintentionally ingest much ... larger quantities of that substance."
Yaugher said brightly colored packaging, flavors and marketing can be especially appealing to younger consumers.
Kratom is often billed as a supplement.
"I think a lot of people think, 'Oh, it's a plant. So therefore it's safe or natural,'" she said. "That is a huge misconception about supplements in general and plants. And I think right now, you have to be really careful in the world that we live in, where you can order almost anything online, without a lot of testing and research behind it, because right now, there's no FDA-approved kratom medical procedures."
Tim Keady, an assistant professor in health and wellness at USU, said he has treated young people struggling with kratom use.
"We have students that are in high school; they're actually in our treatment facilities," Keady said.
He said people also use kratom for many different reasons, including pain relief.
"What we find is that people are trying to use it on their own to get off of certain drugs that they're using, especially some of the opioids and heroin, specifically," Keady said.
Both Keady and Yaugher encourage families and individuals to keep naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, available in case of an overdose emergency.
Yaugher said parents should have conversations with their children and young adults about substance use and emergency response resources.
"I think parents should talk to their children and their youth and their adult children, making sure that they know emergency resources and they know what to do in an emergency situation so that they're not caught off guard if something were to ever happen," she said.
University of Utah officials told KSL they are closely monitoring developments related to the deaths in Mississippi. The university also pointed to its housing policy, which states it does not condone drug use.
Photos
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.