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Why this 'natural' product is called 'gas station heroin'

Tiffanie Brown poses at her home in West Valley City on Sept. 18. Brown started using kratom, a natural herb, for her migraines last year, not knowing it was addictive.

Tiffanie Brown poses at her home in West Valley City on Sept. 18. Brown started using kratom, a natural herb, for her migraines last year, not knowing it was addictive. (Tess Crowley, Deseret News)


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Tiffanie Brown was suffering from migraines and ulcers when someone recommended a "safe, natural" product that would help. The 41-year-old West Valley City mom became addicted to kratom, an herbal supplement that has been called "gas station heroin" because over time — sometimes not much time — it can create something that very much resembles an opioid addiction, acting on the same receptors in the brain. And it's widely available.

Read the full story at Desret.com.

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Lois M. Collins

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