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Health

The Kratom Controversy

We talk about the herbal supplement used for opioid withdrawals and its new FDA classification on 'The VICE Guide to Right Now Podcast.'

On The VICE Guide to Right Now, VICE's daily podcast, we delve into the biggest news of the day and give you a rundown of the stories we're reading, working on, and fascinated with.

Today we talk about the Democrat who beat a Republican for a seat in Florida's House of Representatives, changing it from red to blue in a district that elected Trump, Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen claiming to have paid porn star Stormy Daniels out of his own pocket, and the US spy chiefs' warning that Russia will meddle in the 2018 midterm elections.

Then we talk about Kratom, a controversial herbal supplement that's used to treat opioid withdrawal symptoms. Now the FDA has decided to call the plant an opioid. We chat with Tonic writer Jesse Hicks about what Kratom is, how it's used, and what the new classification could mean for the opioid crisis at large.

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