At Boulder’s Wild Side Smoke Shop near the Colorado University campus, the kratom is “cheaper than the stuff down the street at Freaky’s,” the clerk informs me. “If you’re writing about it,” he says, “you should try it.” Discussing effects ranging from mild stimulant to subtle opium high, he hands me a bottle of capsules marketed by Nature Therapeutics, a brand subject to an August, 2016 action in which U.S. Marshals seized over 100 cases of goods.
Can a product favored by heroin addicts and sold alongside glass pipes, tattoos and piercing services join the dietary supplements industry legitimately? Or is it destined for controlled substance status?

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