For the record:10:16 a.m. Nov. 20, 2025: A previous version of this article misspelled Dee Macaluso’s last name as Mascalusco.
Recently, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department reported it had linked the deaths of six L.A. County residents over the last spring and summer to the use of kratom, a widely available but unregulated supplement sold as a remedy for all sorts of health issues.
The deaths prompted public health officials toannounce Nov. 7 that they would red-tag and pull from store shelves all products containing either kratom or the synthetic alkaloid 7-Hydroxymitragynine, also known as 7-OH, which is derived from kratom. Both are currently unregulated and not approved for use in the United States or the state of California as a drug product, dietary supplement or an approved food additive, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration…