From Tom Scott’s newsletter
I’ve known Evan Edinger for years, he’s been on Lateral, I’m in one of his upcoming videos, we’ve hung out plenty of times: and I had absolutely no idea that, for a lot of the time I’ve known him, he was struggling with an addiction to a drug that’s sold in a lot of US gas stations. (Occasional strong language.) This is a personal, heartfelt story that’s told with laser-like precision in word choice, and I’d recommend it – if only to learn what this stuff is so you stay away from it.
It’s kratom and kava, basically, which are addictive but unregulated herbs that have been sold for decades under various names. Nothing new here, just a complete failure (yet again) of the regulatory system of the us government.
Drug prohibition doesn’t necessarily need to be the solution here; but regulatory implementation that would ensure consumers were adequately warned of the risks involved and that such products weren’t buried behind misleading labeling/advertising would at least be a start