Between 2020 and 2024, kratom was involved in at least 5,208 overdose deaths in the United States, according to the CDC’s SUDORS dashboard. Between 1983 and 1988, crack cocaine was linked to 3,466–6,057 deaths across 25 major metro areas. Despite these troubling statistics, one is remembered as a national drug crisis, while the other is sold at gas stations. Notably, the kratom figure is conservative because not every state reported data and not all overdose deaths involved toxicology testing. Kratom is an opioid-like substance sold at gas stations and convenience stores nationwide. Writing in the Washington Examiner, Kevin A. Sabet recently called for a federal ban on the deadly drug, arguing that failing to do so has already “cost lives.”