Two University of Mississippi students were found dead Monday inside a campus dorm, and police were responding to a possible overdose. Officials have not confirmed a cause or said whether the two deaths are connected, but reports suggest kratom may have played a role. Kratom is marketed as a supplement for pain and anxiety, is not FDA-approved, and is sold with virtually no oversight. That means the product itself can vary wildly from package to package, which is exactly what worries medical professionals like Dr. Evelyn Benitez, who noted the possibility of contamination and alteration.
Mississippi’s approach has been a patchwork. Kratom is illegal in Tennessee and Arkansas but legal statewide in Mississippi, though Oxford has its own ban. At the same time, overdose prevention resources are surging there. Oxford’s Narcan vending machine has dispensed 865 products since July, including 550 Narcan doses and 147 fentanyl test strips. A local restaurant owner, Jared Foster of The Velvet Ditch, is stocking free Narcan, test strips and CPR barriers in his vending machines. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch has repeated a message worth carrying across state lines: one pill can kill is not a slogan, it’s a fact.
For those of us on the Suncoast, the practical steps are simple. Learn to recognize an overdose, which often looks like slow or stopped breathing, blue lips, unresponsiveness, or a limp body. Naloxone, sold as Narcan, is available at pharmacies and through many county health programs, frequently at no cost. If you suspect an overdose, call 911 and give naloxone if you have it. The university has asked the public not to speculate while the investigation continues, and that’s worth honoring while we focus on what can actually save a life.
Has your family had a conversation about kratom, fake pills, or where to find Narcan? Tell us in the comments.
