Vape shop clerk and son charged over kratom sales after two Ole Miss students die
Federal prosecutors in Mississippi charged a store clerk and his son with distributing illegal kratom after two University of Mississippi students died in September.
Oxford vape shop arrests follow deaths of two University of Mississippi students
Federal authorities have charged a vape store clerk and his son with selling an illegal kratom product linked to the deaths of two University of Mississippi students, theguardian.com reported on Friday.
Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and his son Islam Yahya Mosleh, 18, each face one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Both worked at a vape, tobacco and beer store in Oxford, Mississippi, where the university is located.
The two students — Aidan Hamilton, a freshman from Englewood, Colorado, and Robert Strang, a junior from Atlanta — were found dead in different locations on 21 September, one on campus and the other off campus. Federal prosecutors said both deaths appear consistent with drug overdoses, though toxicology reports are still pending.
Bank records included in a federal court filing show Hamilton made multiple purchases in September from the Oxford store. Investigators found opened packages of a kratom product labelled "Smax" in his room, with some pills missing. A package of Smax was also recovered from Strang's room, though according to a DEA affidavit, he purchased it from a different store.
On 24 September, an informant sent to the store by investigators bought kratom-based pills from Yahya Mosleh. DEA special agent Michael Dassance stated in an affidavit that Mosleh warned the informant to "be careful taking the pills because people were dying from them." When other customers entered, Mosleh told the informant to be quiet and pushed the pills out of sight, completing the sale only after they left.
Attorneys Scott Davis and AE Harlow Jr, representing the elder Mosleh and Islam Mosleh respectively, said by email they had no comment. Both defendants appeared before a magistrate judge on Thursday, who found sufficient evidence to charge them.
Kratom, derived from a tree native to south-east Asia, is legal at the federal level but has been banned or regulated by a number of US states. In August, the Drug Enforcement Administration banned three kratom-related compounds. The DEA affidavit noted that one of those banned compounds was listed as an ingredient in products seized from the Oxford store and from Hamilton's room.
Mississippi has regulated kratom, requiring buyers to be at least 21 years old. The city of Oxford has gone further, implementing its own outright ban on the substance.
Eleven states in total have banned kratom. Proponents argue that in its pure, ground-leaf form it is a safe herbal supplement used to manage pain, anxiety, depression and opioid withdrawal symptoms. Critics point to kratom derivatives — often synthetic and highly potent — as the primary source of risk.
A drug taskforce in Mississippi had previously urged people to avoid kratom products following the discovery of kratom derivatives during the initial death investigation. The Lafayette County metro narcotics unit said on Thursday that the investigation remained active and that additional charges were possible. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, in a statement dated 23 September, said two state agencies were working to expedite toxicology reports for both students.
Source: Google News MT