An over-the-counter herbal drug has been linked to more deaths in recent years, federal health officials say.
Kratom – a plant grown naturally in Southeast Asia and often sold in powder capsules – was a cause of death in 91 overdoses in the United States from July 2016 to December 2017, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In seven of the overdoses, kratom was the only substance to test positive in a toxicology report, though the CDC says other substances couldn't be ruled out.
Health officials looked at numbers from state overdose reporting databases and found that of the 27,338 overdose deaths in that time period, 152 of the deceased people tested positive for kratom, even if it was not a cause of death.
