MIKE TAIBBI:

If you haven't heard of kratom — sometimes called kray-tom — you will. It's a coffee-like plant native to Southeast Asia whose leaves can be ground up into capsules or to used make tea or mix with juice or other liquids. For centuries kratom has been used as a replacement for opium or to wean users off it.

In the U.S., kratom is currently very easy to buy on the internet, in specialty bars as tea or some other liquid mixture, or in pill form in shops like Grateful J's in Delray Beach, Florida, which also sells tobacco and smoking paraphernalia.