Help in Mississippi
Oxford press conference Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 10 a.m. CT on the misidentification of “Smax” Pseudo-DHM tablets as “kratom,” the need for accurate public information, and the scientific process that must follow
OXFORD, Miss. — The American Kratom Association (AKA) is asking every news organization covering the deaths of two University of Mississippi students to correct the record: the products reportedly purchased by both students, identified in newly released law-enforcement records as “Smax” Pseudo-DHM tablets, are not natural kratom and should not be described as “kratom.”
Publicly available marketing describes that product as a high-potency MGM-15 product. The Drug Enforcement Administration has placed MGM-15 and MGM-16 in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, and the Department of Health and Human Services has stated that these compounds do not occur naturally in the kratom plant. They are synthetic derivatives or chemically manipulated forms of 7-OH.
Early public statements characterized the recovered products simply as “kratom.” National and local outlets understandably repeated that description. The record now shows the information available to investigators was far more specific. Continuing to call a Schedule I synthetic opioid product “kratom” misinforms the public, leaves Ole Miss students and parents without the precise warning they needed, and falsely associates a natural botanical used safely for centuries with a manufactured product that is nothing of the kind.
The official toxicology findings have not been released. AKA is not asserting what caused either death; it is asking that the product be identified accurately while the scientific process runs its course.
PRESS CONFERENCE DETAILS
WHAT
Press conference: How law enforcement and media misinformed the public about the products in the Ole Miss investigations; the difference between natural kratom and synthetic products sold under the kratom name; why accurate information and sound science — not sensationalized, knee-jerk reaction — must guide what happens next.
WHEN
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
10:00 a.m. Central Time
WHERE
Lafayette County Sheriff Building
711 Jackson Avenue East
Oxford, Mississippi 38655
LIVESTREAM
youtube.com/@americankratomassociation
Members of the media unable to attend in person may submit questions prior via the email below