ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Tom Mueller did not walk into a Waynesville kava bar looking for a controversy.
He and his wife had stopped in for a cappuccino before seeing a movie. Mueller was 73 years old, living with scoliosis and decades of chronic back pain, when he noticed kratom on the menu. He asked about it. Then he tried a glass of kratom tea.
About an hour later, Mueller said he turned to his wife with a reaction he still remembers…