PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. — A hidden camera operation conducted by the Pinal County Attorney's Office found what investigators say are dangerous drugs for sale right on the counter at gas stations and smoke shops across Arizona.
Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller said he was stunned by what investigators discovered.
"I was shocked. I just can't believe that it's this prevalent," Miller said. "And again, right now it's all completely legal. It's completely legal and there's really no way to stop it."
Investigators went undercover to see how widely kratom products are sold and found shop owners willing to discuss them openly.
"Immediately we had shop owners willing to talk to us very openly about what it does, what the effects are, and the type of drugs that it mimics," said Hank Mueller, the Pinal County Attorney's Office's Chief Investigator.
Kratom itself is a natural herbal plant, but many of the products found on store counters are synthetic formulas — like a compound known as 7-OH — sold under the kratom name and marketed like prescription drugs.
"If you look at the marketing that is on the branding of the packaging, you have the label 'Perks' or 'Blues'," Mueller said. "That's the way that it was described to us. You're essentially getting prescription pills without having to go through the process of getting a prescription."
During the undercover operation, store clerks described the products in stark terms.
"That's basically Percocet. I'm being 100% serious," one clerk said. "It's the most potent addictive form there is. This is an over-the-counter Percocet."
Miller said the products are far more dangerous than their over-the-counter availability suggests.
"It's really a synthesized plant that's just as dangerous as fentanyl," Miller said. "We don't know where it comes from. There's no FDA approval. There's no look at to see whether this stuff is safe, how it's being made, what it's being made from. It's a completely unregulated market that I think is decimating and killing people in our community."
Some people use kratom to get off other drugs, but both the county attorney and store clerks acknowledged it carries its own risks. One clerk compared switching to kratom from fentanyl to trading one addiction for another.
Miller said the way these products are marketed leaves little doubt about what they are intended to mimic.
"The shops and these companies are literally advertising this stuff as Percocets, as opioids, as fentanyl, but they're legal," Miller said.
Some stores have already begun pulling the products from their shelves. One clerk told investigators the products were being discontinued.
"We're not supposed to — after that box we're done, we can't be selling no more because it's off the market and stuff too. That's how bad it is," a clerk said to an undercover investigator.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is suing one kratom manufacturer over the products.
Both Mayes and Miller are calling on state lawmakers to tighten kratom laws. In the meantime, Miller is urging shop owners to reconsider stocking the products.
"Yeah, you're making a few bucks, but is making a few bucks worth it?" Miller said.
One of the factors that makes synthetic kratom difficult to track is that medical examiners do not routinely test for it during autopsies. Mueller said investigators confirmed this directly.
"That's something that we found in talking to the medical examiner: they don't test for it. There isn't any test that they run, so we would not know if somebody had that in their system when they OD'd," Mueller said.
Miller said he believes synthetic kratom has played a role in more deaths in the community than are currently recognized.
