Sold as cat’s claw: the Utah deaths, the Buzzers tablets and what the paperwork left out

On October 5, 2026, Utah's health department announced an "urgent public health warning following four deaths across the state linked to high-potency, illegal chemical compounds found in certain herbal supplements".[1] The compounds were mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, which officials shortened to MGPI, and MGM-15, a reduced form of 7-OH. Both were found in tablets sold as cat's claw, a South American vine that does not contain them.[1][2][3]

This article puts the public record in order: what each agency said and when, which product it named, what the seller's own paperwork claims and what it left untested, and what is still missing. It does not name anyone who died. Officials have not, and the families' grief is not evidence.

Figure 1. The record in order, drawn by us from the documents cited below. Buyers were asking what was in the tablets six months before the first official alert. [1]

Three warnings, ten weeks apart

The first came from the Utah Poison Control Center on July 22. It warned of products "sold in smoke shops or online" that blended kava or cat's claw, named Buzzers and Homiez, and said "others may be involved as well".[4] It did not yet know what was in them: "We suspect these products are adulterated with synthetic derivatives of kratom such as 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, or MGM-16."[4] It had already seen harm: "The poison center has received multiple reports of severe overdose related to these products."[4]

The alert was later corrected. The page now says "A previous version of this alert mistakenly included a natural leaf kratom product that is legal in Utah and is not implicated in the current investigation."[4] It does not name the product it withdrew. Its graphic calls the tablets "counterfeit products" and shows two Buzzers sachets.[4]

Figure 2. The first alert, July 22. The graphic shows two Buzzers sachets and calls them counterfeit products. The update notes above the text were added on July 30 and October 5. [4]

Eight days later, on July 30, the Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) put a death on the record. Its headline places the sale in Utah County. The release says "investigations are ongoing regarding a recent death and several severe health incidents associated with Buzzers-brand" cat's claw tablets.[3] Then the laboratory result: "The tested products contained both mitragynine pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15", "which are opioid-acting compounds derived from the kratom plant".[3] It told the public to destroy the tablets and told shops what to do: "Retailers should immediately remove products and contact UDAF".[3]

Figure 3. The July 30 release: one death, Buzzers-brand tablets, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15. It does not name the laboratory or the lots. [3]

How the state came to test them was explained by the department's spokesman, Leon Page, to the Deseret News that day. "This particular one was not labeled as kratom at all," he said, and "it was only discovered because of the incident and poison control submitted the samples to us".[5] He had no details about the death.[5] Utah News Dispatch reported the next day that "additional details were not provided about the fatal overdose".[6]

The poison center's director, Amberly Johnson, gave the paper the call numbers. "Within 2026 we received around 40 calls related to kratom or kratom derivative products," she said, and in the past several weeks "about 19 of those cases have been related to these" cat's claw products.[6]

The third warning, on October 5, raised the count to four deaths. It came jointly from the health department (DHHS), the poison center and UDAF.[1] It widened the net from one brand to a description. UDAF had found the two compounds "in products sold online as well as in local smoke shops and gas stations", and the products "are often sold under brand names like" Buzzers.[1] The labels "often claim the product is legal and free of kratom", while warning that it is for adults only.[1] And: "Although these substances are illegal to sell in Utah, consumers could find them in some retail stores."[1]

Figure 4. The October 5 release that raised the count to four. It gives no detail about any of the deaths. [1]

What "four deaths" does not say

The October release gives no ages, dates, places, causes of death or toxicology for any of the four.[1] KPCW, carrying Utah News Dispatch's report, put it plainly: "No additional details about the deaths were released."[7]

Two officials added a little in interviews. Megan Broekemeier, a forensic epidemiologist at DHHS, told KUTV that "the deaths happened across four months and are not concentrated to a specific area of the state".[8] Dr. Michael Moss, the poison center's medical director, told NBC News that "one of the four deaths was linked to a Buzzers product".[9] Neither said which products the other three involved.

The sources do not settle whether the July death is one of the four. Fox 13 called them "four new deaths in Utah", which reads as four in addition to July's.[10] KPCW's copy says the state "had issued a similar warning in July following one death".[7] The July death was associated with Buzzers, and Moss tied exactly one of the four to Buzzers, which fits the July death being counted, but no official has said so.[3][9]

Two documents from the same day also differ on the strength of the link. The joint release says the deaths were "linked to" the compounds.[1] The poison center's own page above the same release says DHHS "has confirmed several deaths across Utah that have been caused by mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI) and dihydro-7-hydroxymitragynine (MGM-15)".[11] "Caused by" is a medical examiner's finding. No medical examiner's report has been published, and neither page cites one.[11][1]

Figure 5. The poison center’s summary says the deaths were caused by the two compounds; the joint release beneath it says linked to. Its graphic shows a generic packet, not a named brand. [11]

The same poison center page says the compounds "have been found in several different brands" and does not name them.[11] Its new graphic shows a generic packet, not a Buzzers one, and its advice is to avoid any product labelled cat's claw that carries an adults-only or "may contain addictive substances" warning.[11]

For scale, the federal numbers are national and come from the DEA's own toxicology program. Between February 2025 and May 2026, the DEA said, "mitragynine pseudoindoxyl has been identified in at least 56 overdose cases, of which 48 were fatal events".[12] For February to April 2026, "DEA-TOX detected MGM-15 in 17 overdose cases, 16 resulting from a fatal event".[12] Those are cases in which a compound was identified, not deaths it was found to have caused, and the order does not say whether any were in Utah.[12]

The product the state named

Buzzers is sold through exoclub.com, the online store of a company that calls itself Exodus, and through a brand site, getbuzzers.com, whose every shop link points back to exoclub.com.[13] NBC News described the maker as "Exo Club, which makes Buzzers", and reported that it "did not immediately respond to a request for comment".[9] The company's own chain of custody document calls "Exodus Enterprises, LLC (the distributor of Buzzers products)" and names Buzzers LLC as the issuer.[14] The back of a sachet photographed by a buyer in January 2026 reads "Distributed by Buzzers Co LLC" at an address in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on the same Cheyenne street as the store's own footer, suite 101 on the sachet and suite 105 on the site.[15][16]

Figure 6. The brand site as archived on October 12, 2026, after all three Utah warnings. The badges still read No 7-OH or Kratom and Legal in all 50 states. [13]

The brand site's banner carries two badges: "No 7-OH or Kratom" and "Legal in all 50 states".[13] Its copy says "these tablets are completely free from kratom or its compounds".[13] It also says what they are for. The tablets, it says, use a blend "formulated to mimic the vibe of popular kratom products".[13] The store's February product page was blunter: "No, Buzzers do not contain any kratom or kratom-derived extracts."[17] It added: "We are a California-based company whose safety and quality is our top priority."[17]

Figure 7. The seller’s own comparison, uploaded in April 2026: ordinary cat’s claw has no buzz; Buzzers does. [18]

The store published its own comparison, a graphic headed "Buzzers cat's claw is not the supplement". It sets a bottle of ordinary cat's claw capsules, "no buzz, no high", against a Buzzers sachet billed as "refined & enhanced".[18] The product page lists one active ingredient, "Cats Claw Extract", among binders and colourant, and it warns: "Do not use this product if you are subject to frequent drug testing."[19]

The range grew through 2026. There were sachets of two tablets, stronger "tabs", flavoured "shots" in bottles, and from April a six-tablet card called Buzzin' with the Homiez.[13][20] The site offers wholesale "for smoke shops, convenience stores, vape shops, distributors, and other retail locations".[13]

Figure 8. The sachets as the store pictured them. The file sits in the store’s October 2025 uploads folder. [21]

Figure 9. Buzzin’ with the Homiez, the Buzzers line added in April 2026. Whether it is the Homiez the Utah alert meant is not on the record. [20]

The Utah alert named "Homiez" as a brand. The record does not say which product it meant. Buzzin' with the Homiez is a Buzzers line, and the Blue Ridge Poison Center in Virginia named it that way in September.[2] But buyers on Reddit had been discussing a separate brand called Homiez since at least May 2025, when one asked what a Homiez tablet would test at.[22] In August 2026 another asked about "the new homiez botanicals" and wrote "its not buzzers or buzzin w the homiez".[23] This page treats "Homiez" in the Utah alert as the poison center wrote it and does not assign it to either.

Before Buzzers

The upload paths on the store tell when the brand arrived. The first Buzzers images sit in its October 2025 folder.[21] That was the year Exodus stopped taking back its previous best-seller.

Its "Eat Ohmz returns statement", captured in February 2026, tells retailers: "As you may or may not know, we offer a product called Eat-Ohmz. It was one of our top-selling products before some of the new regulations were released."[24] It says "we fielded and accepted millions of dollars in returns even though we were not otherwise required to do so", and that returns would end on December 31, 2025.[24] The store's own laboratory pages list Eat Ohmz products, among them a "7-OH blend".[25] When the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education bought and tested 7-OH products in May 2026, an eat Ohmz Red tablet held a small amount of pseudoindoxyl its label did not mention; our article on labels and laboratory results has the table.[26]

Figure 10. The store’s notice to retailers about its earlier tablet line, as archived in February 2026. [24]

So the same store sold a 7-OH tablet line through 2025, ended returns on it, and began selling tablets labelled cat's claw with "kratom-like effects". That is the sequence the documents show. They do not show who made the tablets or what was in them at any given date.

What buyers said, before the state did

Reddit posts are anecdotes. They are dated, though, and they show what buyers thought they were taking months before the July alert.

On January 13, 2026 an Ohio buyer posted a sachet from a smoke shop and asked what was in it. It said it was "not from Kratom but says Kratom like effects".[15] The back of the sachet is legible in the photo: a warning that the product "contains potentially addictive substances", the cat's claw ingredient line, and the Cheyenne address.[15]

Figure 11. The back of a sachet bought at an Ohio smoke shop, posted January 13, 2026. The label warns of potentially addictive substances and names cat’s claw extract as the only active ingredient. Anecdotal report. [15]

On January 21 a buyer wrote that a local smoke shop had Buzzers, "a proprietary blend, claims to be cats claw extract".[27] On March 26 another asked "Is Buzzers MGM15?" and wrote that "it hits like a full agonist opiate and lasts damn near all day".[28] On April 3 a smoke shop employee posted: "We’re pushing these in with K bans".[29] On April 13 a user posted a laboratory report under the title "Buzzers Tested". The image has since been deleted; one reply reads "of course it has a sprinkle of megaman15", the forum's nickname for MGM-15.[30]

In Louisiana, where kratom is banned, a buyer warned in April of counterfeit Buzzers sachets at a gas station and posted the two backs side by side.[31] A day later he reversed himself. The pack he had thought was fake "is actually how the product looks on their website", he wrote, and he now suspected the stronger packs were the copies.[32] He did not find out.

Figure 12. A Louisiana buyer’s photo of two sachet backs, April 2026. He first called the red one a fake, then a day later wrote that it matched the brand’s own website. Anecdotal report. [31]

On July 21, the day before Utah's first alert, a post titled "Buzzin lab test - buzzers brand" carried a third-party laboratory report on a Buzzin' with the Homiez card. The post was removed from the forum but the image survives. The report, dated July 20, 2026, lists MGM-15 as detected.[33] It is one card, tested for one buyer, by a laboratory whose name is cut off in the image.

Figure 13. A third-party report on one Buzzin’ with the Homiez card, posted the day before Utah’s first alert. One card, one buyer, a laboratory whose name is cut off in the image. Anecdotal report. [33]

The withdrawal posts began in June. "I finally went to a medical detox facility to get off of them," one person wrote of Buzzers tablets in r/quittingkratom.[34] A Utah poster wrote in May that "smoke shops started selling these" after the state's ban, and that one shop carried several brands labelled cat's claw.[35]

The seller's paperwork

At some point in July, Exodus posted a 14-page PDF to its store. It is titled "Chain of Custody Document", and its cover shows two issue dates, "Issued: Jul 16, 2026" printed over the document number and "Issued: May 1, 2026" beneath it.[14] The archived copy was captured on September 11, 2026.[14]

Figure 14. The cover of the seller’s chain of custody document. Two issue dates, one printed over the document number. [14]

The document lays out a supply chain in three steps. A starting powder called "HIRSUTEYNE", from a supplier in Wilson, North Carolina; tablet pressing at a facility in Florida; packing in Santa Ana, California.[14] Two laboratories tested along the way.

Cora Science in Austin tested the powder on February 3, 2026 for twelve alkaloid measures, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl among them.[14] Every one came back below its limit, and the document's summary of that page reads "All 12 Mitragyna alkaloid parameters tested below the reportable detection threshold, consistent with a non-kratom botanical source."[14]

Figure 15. The test of the starting powder. It is the only report in the document that looked for mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, and it also found no mitraphylline, the main alkaloid of real cat’s claw. The customer contact block above it is cropped out. [14]

One of the twelve is mitraphylline. The Blue Ridge Poison Center describes it as the main alkaloid of the real plant: "mitraphylline is the most abundant and is present in the bark of the plant".[2] The chain of custody document's own table lists mitraphylline as "present in Buzzers".[14] Its laboratory report on the powder, two pages later, puts mitraphylline below the limit of quantitation with everything else.[14] The document does not reconcile the two.

Figure 16. The document says mitraphylline is present in Buzzers. Its own laboratory report on the powder says mitraphylline was below the limit of quantitation. [14]

PharmLabs San Diego tested finished tablets three times: on March 16 for Exodus, on July 15 for the powder supplier, and on July 16 for Buzzers LLC.[14] Each report covers the same five kratom alkaloids: 7-OH, MGM-15, mitragynine, speciogynine and speciociliatine. Each found none of them.[14] None of the three tested for mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, the first compound Utah named.[14][3]

Figure 17. The March tablet test. Five kratom alkaloids, none detected; mitragynine pseudoindoxyl is not on the list. The lower three rows are set in a different typeface from the two above them; the page does not say why. [14]

Figure 18. One of two July tablet tests, made in the same weeks as Utah’s alerts. The same five alkaloids, and again no line for mitragynine pseudoindoxyl. [14]

The March report gives the analysis date as March 13 and the received date as March 16.[14] The July 15 report notes a "Photo updated as per client request" and shows a Wonderful Watermelon sachet.[14] PharmLabs' standard footer reads "PharmLabs relies on information provided by the client regarding the identity, sampling, and chain of custody of the submitted material."[14] The same two laboratories turn up in our article on labels and laboratory results, which sets brands' own certificates against independent tests.

Figure 19. What each report looked for. The two compounds the state found are the two the company’s tablet reports split: none of the three tested for pseudoindoxyl, and the one that did tested powder, not tablets. Drawn by us from the documents. [14]

The PDF also carries a statement from the company's quality consultant, written "in response to a reported third-party test result alleging detection of MGM-15 in a customer-submitted sample".[14] It says the outside laboratory was "not part of our approved testing network" and concludes "we consider our COAs to be the most reliable documentation for this product".[14] It offers confirmatory testing of a retained sample from the same lot.[14] It does not say when the outside result arrived or which laboratory produced it.

Figure 20. The company’s answer to an outside MGM-15 result: its own certificates are the reliable ones. It names neither the outside laboratory nor the date. [14]

KUTV noticed the gap in October. A laboratory report posted with the product "said no detectable MGM-15 was contained in the product", the station reported, and the difference from the state's findings "is among the questions surrounding the investigation".[8] The state has not published its own laboratory report, the laboratory's name, the lot numbers or the flavours it tested.[3][1] So the comparison runs one way: the company's reports can be read line by line; the state's cannot.

The document's last section is a legal memorandum written for Exodus in March 2026 on Mississippi's kratom law, House Bill 1077, concluding that Buzzers would not violate it.[14] Its basis is the certificates above and a chemist's statement that the extract contains no kratom.[14]

How it was sold

DHHS says the products were sold "online as well as in local smoke shops and gas stations".[1] UDAF told KUTV that tracing them is hard because "the manufacturers have used dummy addresses and unconventional distribution methods".[8] The department said it was "working with law enforcement and the Food and Drug Administration to identify the companies behind the products".[8] It has announced no recall order, stop-sale order or charge.[3][1]

The store itself had stopped selling by the autumn. Its September captures of the Buzzers pages, and its home page on October 12, carry the same banner across the top: "unable to accept orders at this time".[19][16] The banner gives no reason.

Figure 21. The store in October. The banner says it is not taking orders; it does not say why. [16]

Other states

California's Poison Control System warned on August 4 about synthetic kratom compounds in products marketed as kava and cat's claw, and said "at this time, the products identified are from the Buzzers and Homiez brands, but there may be others".[36]

Tennessee's Bureau of Investigation warned on September 14 that products labelled cat's claw may contain MGM-15. It named no brand.[37] As WSMV noted, cat's claw "is legal in Tennessee but kratom is illegal in any form" there.[37]

The Blue Ridge Poison Center at UVA Health published a bulletin for clinicians on September 15. "Recent investigation by multiple poison centers has revealed that these products contain unlabeled kratom" alkaloids and derivatives, it said, listing mitragynine, 7-OH, pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15.[2] It named "Buzzers" and "Buzzin with the homiez" and printed photos of both packs.[2] The Virginia Department of Health reposted the warning two days later.[38]

Figure 22. The packs as a Virginia poison centre photographed them for clinicians in September. [2]

The bulletin puts the Utah tablets in a line of earlier cases. "Alabama saw a cluster of cases in October 2025 involving liquid products marketed as kava", it says, which were found to contain kratom alkaloids including pseudoindoxyl.[2] And a liquid sold online as Better Weather Fix Elixir was recalled in May 2026 after FDA testing.[2] The company's recall notice says the product "may contain undeclared Mitragynine and Mitragynine Pseudoindoxyl".[39]

Figure 23. Where officials warned, July to October 2026. Utah is the only state to report deaths, and Utah County the only place in it officials named. Drawn by us from the warnings cited below. [2]

The law, state and federal

Utah's 2026 law allowed only pure leaf kratom from May 6; our article on the kratom lobby in Utah covers how it was written and fought.[8] UDAF's July release calls both compounds Schedule I drugs in Utah.[3] The DEA put mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16 in federal Schedule I by a temporary order effective August 26, 2026: "This temporary order is effective August 26, 2026, until August 26, 2028."[12] The order describes the market the Utah tablets came from: products "sold in smoke shops, gas stations, and through numerous online marketplaces".[12]

Figure 24. The federal order of August 26, four weeks after Utah’s release on the same two compounds. [12]

On October 9 the DEA filed two notices, scheduled for publication on October 14. One would keep MGM-15 and MGM-16 where they are, to "maintain the temporary placement of these substances in schedule I of the CSA without change".[40] The other would move pseudoindoxyl into a threshold rule alongside 7-OH, and says "the August 26, 2026 temporary order placing mitragynine pseudoindoxyl in schedule I of the CSA without a threshold remains in effect until either it expires or the new temporary order is published".[41] Our article on 7-OH's successors covers the chemistry and the earlier orders.

After the July death, Sen. Mike McKell told Fox 13: "I do have a bill file open again that would ban pure leaf kratom entirely."[42] The American Kratom Association blamed the state for not enforcing the rules it already had: "Utah consumers are now seeing the consequences of that failed policy."[43] The Utah article sets out both sides.

Still open

• The four deaths: dates, places, toxicology, and the medical examiner's findings. None has been published, and no CDC report on these compounds in Utah was found.[1]
• Which brands the three deaths not tied to Buzzers involved, and whether the July death is one of the four.[9][10]
• UDAF's laboratory report: the laboratory, the method, the lots and flavours tested, and amounts. The releases give only the two compound names.[3][1]
• Which "Homiez" product the July alert meant.[4]
• Who pressed and packed the tablets the state tested. The seller's document names a Florida pressing facility without an address.[14]
• Whether any recall, stop-sale order, warning letter or charge has followed. Searches of UDAF's news page and the FDA's recall list found none naming Buzzers or Exodus as of October 12, 2026.[3]

References

1. Utah health officials warn of fatal overdoses involving illegal “cat’s claw” and kratom product — Utah Department of Health and Human Services, with the Utah Poison Control Center and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, 2026-10-05
2. ToxTalks: Cat’s Claw (September 15, 2026) — Blue Ridge Poison Center at UVA Health
3. Illegal Kratom Product Sold in Utah County Linked to Death in Utah — Utah Department of Agriculture and Food with the Utah Poison Control Center, 2026-07-30
4. Adulterated Cat’s Claw and Kava Products May Cause Opioid Overdose — Utah Poison Control Center, University of Utah Health, 2026-07-22, updated 2026-07-30 and 2026-10-05
5. Mislabeled kratom product sold in Utah linked to a death — Deseret News, 2026-07-30
6. Kratom alkaloids found in cat’s claw tablets linked to multiple overdoses, Utah agencies warn — Utah News Dispatch, 2026-07-31
7. Utah health officials issue ‘urgent’ warning about kratom, ‘cat’s claw’ products after overdoses — KPCW, carrying Utah News Dispatch, 2026-10-08
8. Utah investigates ‘cat’s claw’ products after 4 deaths linked to illegal kratom compounds — KUTV, 2026-10-05
9. Semi-synthetic kratom products linked to four deaths in Utah, state officials say — NBC News, 2026-10-06
10. 4 new Utah deaths linked to illegal ‘Cat’s Claw,’ kratom products — Fox 13 Salt Lake City, 2026-10-05
11. Utah health officials warn of fatal overdoses involving illegal “cat’s claw” and kratom product — Utah Poison Control Center, University of Utah Health, 2026-10-05 (archived 2026-10-12)
12. Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of Mitragynine Pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16 in Schedule I (temporary order, Docket DEA-1644, FR Doc. 2026-17429) — Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Register, 2026-08-26
13. Buzzers Proprietary Botanical Extract Tablets & Bottles (home page) — getbuzzers.com, archived 2026-10-12
14. Chain of Custody Document, Buzzers Botanical Extract Tablet, BUZ-COC-001 (14 pages, with PharmLabs San Diego and Cora Science certificates) — Buzzers LLC, posted on exoclub.com, archived 2026-09-11
15. Question for “Buzzers” (2026-01-13) — r/7ohm — anecdotal report, not evidence
16. Exodus ExoClub home page — exoclub.com, archived 2026-10-12
17. Buzzers - Proprietary Botanical Extracts 50mg (product page) — exoclub.com, archived 2026-02-17
18. Buzzers cat’s claw is not the supplement (graphic, 2026/04 uploads folder) — exoclub.com, archived 2026-07-03
19. Buzzers - Proprietary Botanical Extracts 150mg (product page) — exoclub.com, archived 2026-09-11
20. Buzzin with the Homiez collection image (file in the 2026/04 uploads folder) — exoclub.com, archived 2026-07-03
21. Buzzers collection image (file in the 2025/10 uploads folder) — exoclub.com, archived 2026-02-15
22. Anyone know what the homiez 50mg tabs test at (2025-05-15) — r/7_hydroxymitragynine — anecdotal report, not evidence
23. Homiezzzz (2026-08-08) — r/7ohm — anecdotal report, not evidence
24. Eat Ohmz Returns Statement — exoclub.com, archived 2026-02-13
25. Eat Ohmz 7-OH blend lab test (PDF) — exoclub.com, archived 2026-02-20
26. Test Purchase: Mitragynine & 7-Hydroxy Mitragynine, May 2026 — Krotulski AJ, Denn MT, Eccarius LK, Logan BK, Center for Forensic Science Research and Education
27. New 7oh alternative? (2026-01-21) — r/7oh — anecdotal report, not evidence
28. Is Buzzers MGM15? (2026-03-26) — r/7ohm — anecdotal report, not evidence
29. Cat Claws- Buzzers? (2026-04-03) — r/7_hydroxymitragynine — anecdotal report, not evidence
30. Buzzers Tested (2026-04-13) — r/7_hydroxymitragynine — anecdotal report, not evidence
31. Buyer beware: counterfeit ‘Buzzers’ tabs are in Louisiana (2026-04-05) — r/7ohm — anecdotal report, not evidence
32. An update on the post I made yesterday about counterfeit Buzzers (2026-04-06) — r/7ohm — anecdotal report, not evidence
33. Buzzin lab test - buzzers brand (2026-07-21) — r/7oh — anecdotal report, not evidence
34. I finally quit! (2026-06-12) — r/quittingkratom — anecdotal report, not evidence
35. Cats Claw Extract = Kratom (2026-05-30) — r/quittingkratom — anecdotal report, not evidence
36. California Poison Control issues warning as dangerous kratom derivatives appear in popular herbal products — The Union, carrying the California Poison Control System warning, 2026-08-04
37. What is ‘cat’s claw’ and why is Tennessee law enforcement warning public about it containing illegal compound — WSMV, reporting the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, 2026-09-14
38. ‘Cat’s Claw’ products containing unlabeled kratom alkaloids — Virginia Department of Health, 2026-09-17
39. Better Weather Actives LLC Recalls Better Weather Fix Elixir Due to Undeclared Mitragynine and Mitragynine Pseudoindoxyl — US Food and Drug Administration (company announcement), May 2026
40. Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of MGM-15 and MGM-16 in Schedule I (notice of intent, Docket DEA-1644, FR Doc. 2026-20942, public-inspection filing) — Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Register, filed 2026-10-09
41. Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of 7-Hydroxymitragynine and Mitragynine Pseudoindoxyl Above a Specified Threshold in Schedule I (notice of intent, Docket DEA-1570, FR Doc. 2026-20943, public-inspection filing) — Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Register, filed 2026-10-09
42. Utah lawmaker pushes total kratom ban after reported death linked to mislabeled product — Fox 13 Salt Lake City, 2026-08
43. Utah’s Cat’s Claw Overdoses Expose a Failure to Enforce Existing Law, and the False Labeling of These Products as Kratom — American Kratom Association, 2026-07-31