‘Take as much as you like,’ the shopkeeper said with a broad grin, sliding a stack of opioid-like products towards me.
This was not some obscure backstreet outlet. I was inside a shop on a leafy avenue in one of New York City’s most affluent neighborhoods.
The shelves were packed with powders, capsules, gummies and lollipops. Nearly all contained kratom or one of its potent compounds, the substance increasingly dubbed ‘gas station heroin.’
I had already told the man selling the products that I had never used them before. He showed no sign of concern.
After an undercover investigation, Our News Outlet can reveal the aggressive sales tactics helping drive America’s $1.5 billion-a-year kratom market.
Kratom comes from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa, a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia. It remains legal in much of the United States and largely unregulated at the federal level, despite repeated health warnings about its opioid-like effects, addiction potential and other serious risks.
Calls for tighter controls have grown louder following the deaths last month of University of Mississippi students Aidan Hamilton, 18, and Robert Strang, 20. Investigators said open packages of synthetic kratom tablets were found near their bodies.
Despite those concerns, neon signs promoting the products have appeared on almost every block around Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, interspersed among the student residences where New York University freshmen spend their first weeks away from home.
Pills, tablets, powders, drinks and gummies containing 7-OH — a kratom-derived compound that experts say is 13 times more potent than morphine — have become standard products at smoke shops across America
I visited shops across New York undercover to examine how easily sellers would supply kratom and what, if anything, might discourage them from selling a potentially dangerous high
Some states have introduced tighter restrictions on kratom, while others have banned it entirely.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is now seeking to temporarily place four kratom-related substances in Schedule 1 under the Controlled Substances Act. That category includes heroin, fentanyl, LSD and MDMA.
As of November 2026, the DEA has not yet issued a final temporary scheduling order for 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, a compound found in kratom.
To examine this legal gray area, I went from one New York shop to another, asking questions and testing how far staff would go to sell me large quantities of kratom.
Our News Outlet was sold five different kratom products containing varying concentrations of active ingredients.
Only some included clear warnings about their effects or risks. None of the products sold to me were illegal under current DEA regulations. The potential danger to consumers would depend on factors including a product’s potency, the amount taken at one time or over a longer period, and other individual circumstances.
I told sellers that I was pregnant, suffered from anxiety and depression, and wanted a ‘huge stash’ so my friends and I could try large amounts of kratom at a party.
I asked about side effects and whether the products could be mixed with alcohol. I deliberately presented myself as a complete beginner with little understanding of what I was purchasing.
I wanted to see how staff would respond to the basic questions a first-time customer might ask before using an unfamiliar psychoactive substance.
What shocked me most was that employees at the majority of shops I visited did not ask for identification.
New York law requires customers to be at least 21 to buy kratom. Yet the stores I visited had no way of knowing whether I was legally old enough because nobody checked. There appeared to be little preventing a much younger person from entering and making the same requests.
The FDA has not approved kratom as safe or effective for any medical use. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Drug Fact Sheet identifies it as a drug and chemical of concern, although it remains legal and largely unregulated
Botanical kratom products are legal under federal law but are completely prohibited in nine states
Malaysia, Singapore and Myanmar — three countries where kratom originated — have outlawed its use, although exporting it is not prohibited. (Pictured: kratom powder)
The more questions I asked, the more products staff encouraged me to consider: drinks, teas, lollipops and pills.
So what, exactly, was being sold so casually?
At smaller amounts, kratom can have stimulant-like effects. At higher doses, it may cause sedation and can even be fatal.
Two of its best-known compounds, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, act on opioid receptors in the brain in ways similar to drugs such as oxycodone.
Products marketed as kratom can differ substantially. Some contain ground kratom leaves, while others use concentrated extracts or enhanced formulas with far higher levels of compounds such as 7-OH.
That variation can make it difficult for customers to determine exactly what they are taking or how powerful a product may be simply by reading the packaging.
Holly Trouville knows the consequences of that opaque marketing all too well. She lost her only child, 25-year-old Tyrell, to kratom toxicity on February 6, 2024. His death certificate listed no secondary causes or other opioids in his system.
‘Tyrell drank a kratom seltzer marketed as sugar-free, alcohol-free and caffeine-free. It contained less than two percent 7-OH, a level advocates claim is safe,’ Trouville told me.
Kratom is sold at marijuana dispensaries and often promoted as natural and plant-based. It comes as crushed leaves, brewed tea, powder, gel capsules, liquid extracts, gummies and pressed tablets, with potency varying between strains
‘My son is gone, so my only goal is to stop another parent from experiencing the complete and utter devastation I feel every day,’ Trouville said.
‘The fact that some users say it helps them stay away from opioids does not make it any less addictive. Regulation does not work.’
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Tyrell was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, graduated from Dracut High School and served in the state’s U.S. Army Reserve, his mother said. She is now calling for a complete ban on the substance she believes killed him.
Kylee Matlock was just 20 when kratom began consuming her life. Three years later, she was dead. A former employee of the month, Kylee had been studying to become a forensic accountant before the drug took hold, her mother, Tia Rustici, told me.
Kylee, from Idaho, had postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, and was introduced to diluted kratom powder as a ‘gentle herbal alternative’ because she did not want the ‘strength of opioids.’ Like many others, she discovered too late how similar the effects could be.
Tia said she watched helplessly as her daughter withdrew from her family, abandoned school and eventually lost her job. ‘She became agitated and irritable, slept all day and would not come out of her room until 6 p.m.’
‘We tried everything — conversations, doctors’ appointments and counseling. It was heartbreaking. We were watching our daughter disappear right in front of us.’
As Kylee’s condition worsened, Tia decided she should move in with her grandmother on the eastern side of the state, hoping a change of surroundings might help her get back on track.
During a visit to this widespread New York chain, I was handed a free drink from the refrigerator. Offering free kratom beverages is deeply concerning because the products have documented addictive properties and samples make access even easier
Holly told Our News Outlet that the soft drink look-alike became a regular part of her son Tyrell’s routine after it was recommended as a ‘Red Bull alternative’
Six weeks later, Tia received three words that shattered her world: ‘Kylee is gone.’
It was almost two months before Tia learned that kratom had been identified as the silent cause behind her daughter’s death. Kratom and her antidepressants were the only substances found in her system.
Some users believe kratom provides benefits, but it has not been proven safe or effective for treating any medical condition. U.S. health authorities have warned about its potential dangers for years.
The DEA lists seizures, liver toxicity, anorexia, sedation, addiction and substance use disorder among the serious problems associated with kratom.
I told several shop employees that I was pregnant, partly to see whether the disclosure would make them reconsider a sale. It should have. Kratom use during pregnancy has been linked to withdrawal in newborns, some of whom require urgent medical care.
Yet that risk is unlikely to be known by a first-time customer, especially when the product is displayed beside candy and energy drinks.
One of the most revealing encounters came when I asked for four times the standard dose.
Would the shopkeeper hesitate or ask about my experience? She was prepared to sell it to me.
Tia told Our News Outlet that kratom killed her high-achieving young daughter Kylee (pictured). Kylee had POTS and was advised to try it as a gentler herbal alternative to her medication
When I described myself as a regular user at another shop, the response was no more cautious. ‘It’s a lot of fun, isn’t it?’ the shopkeeper said with a wink.
At a third shop, I mentioned my anxiety and depression and asked whether kratom was suitable for someone with anxiety.
‘Yeah,’ the employee replied casually. ‘It could definitely give you a common euphoric effect.’
There is a reason some people seek it out: in one study, about two-thirds of users said they took kratom to manage anxiety or depression.
Kratom has not been established as a safe or effective treatment for either condition. The same study found that approximately one-third of users met the criteria for another substance use disorder.
Alcohol provided another test. One particularly dismissive seller told me I could simply ‘wash it down’ with a drink. When I asked whether kratom had any side effects, he looked surprised. ‘Kratom? No, no side effects,’ he said, laughing.
Experts warn that combining kratom with alcohol can worsen sedation and raise the risk of dangerous effects, including breathing difficulties.
U.S. poison control centers received more than 3,400 reports involving kratom use between 2014 and 2019, including reports of deaths. From 2015 to 2025, kratom-related exposures reported to the National Poison Data System rose by approximately 1,200 percent, reaching record levels in 2025.
Among reports involving exposure to multiple substances in 2025, 60 percent resulted in serious medical outcomes and about half required hospitalization.
Against that troubling backdrop, I decided to press one final shop assistant even further.
I asked a man whether I could purchase the shop’s entire supply of kratom
I later learned that the drink on my left closely resembled the seltzers that Tyrell consumed. Marketed as ‘Similar to Red Bull,’ it came with the same vague reassurance that it would simply ‘boost my energy’
I asked whether I could buy every kratom product in the shop. Instead of questioning why I wanted such a large amount or asking what I planned to do with it, the man responded enthusiastically.
‘Yeah, have a kratom party,’ he suggested. Brushing aside my concerns, he added confidently: ‘It will be a very pleasant experience.’ His easy endorsement was striking, particularly because I had proposed consuming more than 12,600mg.
The visits left me deeply unsettled. The eagerness to sell additional products was far more apparent than any meaningful concern about the risks I raised.
For an industry facing growing scrutiny, the central question is no longer only what is inside the packet. It is also what customers are told before they pay for it.
When a substance can produce powerful opioid-like effects, the difference between responsible retailing and reckless reassurance can have serious consequences.
Like Tyrell, Kylee and so many others, no one should have to learn about kratom’s potential dangers only after leaving the shop.
