How Kratom, an Addictive Gas Station Drug, Found Allies in Trumps Cabinet

For years, federal health officials have warned about the risks associated with a supplement derived from the leaves of kratom trees that adherents say can kill pain or boost energy.Sold in gas stations across America, kratom has been linked to liver toxicity, seizures and thousands of deaths.Powerful figures close to President Trump, including Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, pushed to downplay those concerns.Mr.

Mullin, until recently a Republican senator from Oklahoma, played a key role in a sprawling influence campaign spearheaded by the kratom industry that courted Health Secretary Robert F.Kennedy Jr.

and Vice President JD Vance, among others in the Trump administration, an investigation by The New York Times found.Only when he was nominated by Mr.Trump in March to lead the Homeland Security Department did it become clear that Mr.

Mullin had a financial connection to the supplement.In a disclosure statement, he listed an investment worth as much as $1 million in a kratom company, Botanic Tonics, that could benefit from the changes he has sought.The company’s founder, Jerry W.

Ross — who had been an energy executive in Mr.Mullin’s home state before pleading guilty to a financial crime — is a leading player in the influence campaign that was devised to benefit kratom at the expense of its rivals in the marketplace....