Underage reporter offered ‘gas station heroin’ kratom in NYC smoke shops without having to show ID

Source: New York Post

Nearly half the smoke shops in Manhattan visited by an underage Post reporter as part of a weeks long probe into the kratom crisis were willing to sell her highly-addictive opioid-like products without ever bothering to ask for ID. In New York, individuals must be 21 or older to purchase any products containing or derived from the South Asian kratom plant, known for its euphoric or sedative-like effects. Post scribe Sidney Blasco, 20, found the drug at 18 smoke shops along 8th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen — and only nine bothered to ask her to show a valid form of identification.