607: Kratom Is Putting People in Comas — And It's Sold at Every Gas Station
607: Kratom Is Putting People in Comas — And It's Sold at Every Gas Station

Real Recovery Talk

Real Recovery Talk looks at the growing dangers of kratom, changes in opioid use, and the blurred line between addiction and mental health diagnoses. Tom, Ben and Destiny share direct stories from treatment and challenge quick fixes, highlighting the need for honest assessment and abstinence-based care.

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47:09•10 Jun 2026

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Gas Station Heroin, Falling Opioid Numbers and Questionable Mental Health Labels

Episode Overview

Kratom, especially 7-OH extract, is linked to hospitalisations, comas and deaths while remaining widely available in everyday shops.
Kratom withdrawal is described by some former heroin and fentanyl users as more severe than their previous opioid detox.
Authorities often miss kratom involvement because it is not routinely tested for, leading to underreported overdoses.
Local opioid overdoses and use appear to be decreasing, possibly as a result of a previous generation of users dying or entering recovery.
Accurate mental health diagnosis is difficult while someone is using substances, and rushed prescribing can worsen symptoms rather than help.

“We’re addicts and, like, if it doesn’t work in the first five minutes, obviously I didn’t take enough. And next thing you know, I’m overdosed and I’m intubated in the hospital.”

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This conversation on Real Recovery Talk takes a hard look at kratom, mental health meds, and how shifting drug trends are affecting people and families right now. Hosted by Tom Conrad with co‑hosts Ben and Destiny, the chat starts with kratom, now nicknamed “gas station heroin”.

They share first-hand stories of people in long-term recovery who thought they’d just “dabble in kratom because it’s not that big of a deal” and ended up in hospital, intubated, or even in comas. One man in Palm Beach County is said to have died with kratom as his only drug of choice, and families are starting to sue manufacturers and retailers.

Tom, Ben and Destiny point out that hospitals don’t routinely test for kratom and the FDA isn’t tracking overdoses, making the true scale of the problem murky. Meanwhile, highly concentrated 7-OH kratom extract is described as “as easy as getting a Red Bull” in gas stations and vape shops, despite being illegal in their state. From there, they shift to bigger trends: opioid use and overdose deaths appear to be dropping locally.

The group suggest it might be less about fancy initiatives and more about a generation of users who have either died or found recovery, while younger people turn more to phones, gaming, fitness and, in some cases, performance-enhancing drugs and peptides. The final section tackles a messy overlap: addiction versus mental health. They criticise quick psychiatric labels and “smorgasbord” prescriptions given without proper drug screening, stressing the need to remove substances first and observe people over time.

As Ben puts it, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch, dude,” when it comes to medication side effects. If you care about someone using kratom or wrestling with mood swings and pills, this episode might leave you asking: what’s really going on underneath, and what needs to change today?

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