Supplement sold at gas stations blamed for California man's opioid overdose

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Set us as preferred San Francisco health officials are warning the public about misrepresented supplements sold in gas stations and smoke shops after a man overdosed on a supplement portrayed as “cat’s claw” that contained a potent, laboratory-created opioid-like chemical.Health officials warned about the dangers of dihydro-7-hydroxymirtragynine, also known as MGM-15, a chemically modified form of 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), an opioid-like chemical found in trace amounts in the kratom plant, according to the Coleman Institute for Addiction Medicine.

The modified MGM-15 was detected in a 37-year-old man who overdosed and died in late September, according to the office of the chief medical examiner in San Francisco.The chief medical examiner ruled the cause of death to be an accident caused by the “toxic effects of kratom alkaloids,” according to a coroner’s reported obtained by The Times.Forensic toxicology testing conducted by the medical examiner’s office confirmed MGM-15 in both the overdose victim and a package of four 100-mg tablets of “uncaria tomentosa extract.” Public health officials in San Francisco said the substance was being marketed and sold as “cat’s claw” or uncaria tomentosa without disclosing the MGM-15 ingredient.In this case, it was sold by the brand “Script botanicals x Maui labs.” The Times reached out to Script botanicals for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Lifestyle What does creatine actually do? Experts detail its beneficial effects on energy, recovery and your muscles.Cat’s claw is a woody vine that grows in the Amazon forest and other tropical areas of Central and South America, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest have used it for centuries to ward off disease.

Cat’...