A mother has issued an urgent warning over the trendy herbal supplement kratom—touted online as a natural remedy for anxiety and stress—after her 27-year-old son died just six weeks after he began taking it.
The powder, made from the leaves of a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia, is sold widely across the US in the form of teas, pills and energy shots.
Fans claim kratom can boost mood, relieve pain and ease withdrawal from other drugs.
But experts warn it is addictive and potentially dangerous, with side effects that can include seizures, hallucinations and, in some cases, death.
It has since earned the nickname ‘gas station heroin’ after reports of users becoming hooked, with some describing severe withdrawal symptoms similar to those caused by opioids.
Depending on the dose, it can act as both a stimulant and a sedative—producing bursts of energy in small amounts, but causing drowsiness, euphoria and dependency in larger ones.
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the effects can begin within 10 minutes and last up to an hour and a half.
Robert ‘Wyatt’ Wheeler, 27, died in October 2022 after taking the supplement for less than two months.
Robert ‘Wyatt’ Wheeler was just 27 years old when he passed away after overdosing on Kratom
Kratom is widely available across the US in the form of energy shots, powders, teas and pills.
Speaking to People magazine, his mother Patti Wheeler said: ‘He found this kratom alternative to try to take the edge off during a party. We just had no way of knowing that it was addictive as it was.’
When she discovered her son was taking kratom, she said she wasn’t initially worried after Wyatt reassured her it was just a herbal supplement.
But two weeks later, on October 25, Wyatt suffered a fatal seizure—despite his twin brothers’ desperate attempts to save him.
Ms Wheeler said: ‘It’s not pretty at all. There’s convulsing… people bite their tongue and there’s blood. I heard the stories. I know what my son went through that day.
‘As a parent, you teach your children everything about danger; how to look both ways, how to cross the street, how to watch out for people in dark corners.
‘And then he walks into a gas station, buys something off the shelf, and he’s gone at just 27 years old. It’s unfathomable.’
Ms Wheeler is now taking part in the filming of a new documentary, Kratom: Side Effects May Include, in which she and other bereaved families share their experiences of losing loved ones to the controversial drug.
She added: ‘I really do hope to circumvent that for other people. I don’t want them to go down the path my son did. I want people to be able to identify kratom.’
Drug induced liver injury is liver damage that happens as a side-effect of taking a drug
Heartbreakingly, Wyatt’s story is not unique.
More than 2,000 deaths linked to kratom were officially recorded in the US between 2021 and 2023 alone, prompting government discussions about classifying it as a Schedule I drug—the same category as heroin.
Officials hope such a move would make the substance harder to access, but experts warn it could also drive the trade underground, making supplies even more dangerous.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has repeatedly urged consumers not to use kratom because of the risk of serious side effects, including liver toxicity, seizures and addiction.
One of the biggest concerns is drug-induced liver injury (DILI)—damage caused when the liver struggles to process a medicine, drug or supplement. The liver is responsible for metabolising substances so they can be safely removed from the body, but sometimes, active components of a drug remain behind and build up, leading to inflammation or scarring.
According to the British Liver Trust, symptoms of DILI can include extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, jaundice, itching, nausea, pain under the ribs on the right-hand side, and rashes.
Any drug or supplement is more likely to trigger liver damage if taken in high doses—and doctors warn that with unregulated substances like kratom, users often have no way of knowing how much they’re actually consuming.
Kratom is illegal in the UK after it banned under the Psychoactive Substances Act in 2016.
