2025 October issue of InMaricopa Magazine

2025 October issue of InMaricopa Magazine InMaricopa.com InMaricopa is Maricopa's premier local news source InMaricopa is your go-to source for hyper-local news and information about Maricopa, Arizona. Stay informed with the latest community updates, events, and stories that matter to our city. InMaricopa is the only dedicated news outlet focusing exclusively on the city of Maricopa, ensuring residents are always in the know.

October 2025

www.InMaricopa.com

Honoring Hispanic heritage Entrepreneurs on family roots, facing adversity and the future

NEW

INSIDE

HISTORY • COMMUNITY • BUSINESS • SENIORS • HOME • MORE

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CONTENTS

MUSD Community Preschool The Early Childhood Leader in Maricopa Community Preschool provides fun, skills-based activities that explore science, literacy, math, art, music, dramatic play, and more! Our rich curriculum aligns to Arizona Early Learning Standards to build skills and promote healthy social-emotional development. Our students work and play together to explore their curiosities, build confidence, and develop problem solving skills for a life-long love of learning.

LEADING OFF Editor’s letter 6 Contributors 6 HISTORY

Working on the railroad 8 This month in history 10 COMMUNITY City vape shops seem to sell illegal drugs 12 GOVERNMENT Permts 20 BUSINESS Mapping business news 30 Restaurant inspections 32 HEALTH & WELLNESS The domestic violence signs you don’t know to look for 33 Hispanic entrepreneurs discuss their heritage, businesses 22

HALF-DAY PRESCHOOL NOW AVAILABLE

SENIORS Beloved bagpiper takes talents overseas 42 THINGS TO DO Root, root, root for the home team 46 We sat down with the city’s new Parks & Rec director 48 Planning to fish in a city lake? Read this first 50 Mysterious Mansion Mayhem returns 51 Fall event calendar 52 Weekly activities 54

TRENDING A look at what’s hot on InMaricopa.com 63 PARTING SHOT Cotton candy clouds 64

Locations Butterfield Elementary School - (520)-568-6100 Maricopa Elementary School - (520) 568-5160 Pima Butte Elementary School - (520) 568-7150 Saddleback Elementary School - (520) 568-6110 Santa Cruz Elementary School - (520)-568-5170 Santa Rosa Elementary School - (520)-568-6150

THE MUSD PROMISE • Certified Teachers • Licensed Facilities • Arizona Standards-Based Curriculum • Full-Day Academic Program • Dual Language Preschool (Santa Rosa) • Early Reading • Arts, Music, and Physical Education • Technology

Fall into beauty with this exclusive wellness-forward sales event 34 HOME Sage advice for your shrubs 36 Extreme home sales 38 What new federal homebuying rules really mean 40 Tips for landlords to survive a renter’s market 41

Full-Day Community Preschool Monday - Friday 8:35 AM-3:35 PM/8:10 AM-3:10 PM, $680/Month

Half-Day Preschool at Butterfield Elementary Only Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 8:35-11:35 AM/12:35-3:35 PM, $310/Month

ON THE COVER It’s an overcast morning at the Highway 238 Industrial Park, where 911 Air Repair owner Ray Nieves dispatches skilled workers and appliances all over the city when people need them most. Victor Moreno captures the third-generation Maricopan celebrating his Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage Sept. 17.

For more information visit us at www.musd20.org/preschool

InMaricopa.com | October 2025

From lawn care to Halloween scare, we’ve got Maricopa covered.

FROM THE EDITOR

M Our kind of to-do list MARICOPA WAS BUILT TO BE A BEDROOM community. This term, which first emerged in this country amid the rise of automobiles and construction of highways after World War II, implies the existence of other proverbial rooms. Rooms that are just as, if not more important than the bedroom. Back when Maricopa’s master

Publisher SCOTT BARTLE

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Editorial Director ELIAS WEISS

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shops are selling a loosely regulated drug in illegal doses; a drug described as “gas station heroin” that has destroyed lives in Maricopa. October is also Hispanic Heritage Month. To

Advertising Director VINCENT MANFREDI

honor the occasion, we asked business owners around the city about their backgrounds, struggles, successes and advice for future generations. One of those entrepreneurs, a third- generation Maricopan and active community member, stands proudly on this month’s cover in a photograph captured by another Hispanic business owner. I was lucky enough to be there when it was taken.

Advertising TAWNI PROCTOR AMBER ROGALLA BRITTANY RUSSELL MICHELLE SORENSEN

planners were masterfully planning their first master plans, they envisioned residents waking up in their bedrooms and hitting the dusty morning trail in pursuit of an honest dollar. But those days are far behind us, and many (like me) enjoy living

Writers KRISTINA DONNAY

Infinity Lighting!

WENDE GEHRT JUSTIN GRIFFIN DAVID IVERSEN DAYV MORGAN BRIANNA REINHOLD TOM SCHUMAN MONICA D. SPENCER SHERMAN AND EUPHEMIA WEEKES

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and working in this fast-growing community. For others, like many seniors and full-time parents, it’s the same situation. Whether you are part of this city-dwelling trend or a faithful State Route 347 commuter, there’s never been more demand for things to do in Maricopa. That’s why we’ve launched our Things to Do special section in partnership with the City of Maricopa: We’ll keep track of new and upcoming events close to home, so you don’t have to. In this edition, you’ll find our inaugural guide, featuring events and activities to last you through the year. Expect to find a new guide in your mailbox every other month. And that’s not all you’ll find in this edition. David Iversen investigates whether local smoke

Now, the holidays are almost upon us. This is the time of year when time itself seems to accelerate. So, I’ll rendezvous with you again in November, before any of us know it. But if you can’t wait that long, join the reporting team every day of week on InMaricopa.com.

Photographers DAVID IVERSEN BRYAN MORDT JENECE MORDT VICTOR MORENO MONICA D. SPENCER

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ELIAS WEISS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Elias@inMaricopa.com

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Send your reactions with a photo of yourself at the QR code to be published in a future edition of InMaricopa magazine.

MISSION Inform readers/viewers. Enrich advertisers.

BELIEFS We believe in: • An informed citizenry. • Holding ourselves and others accountable. • The success of deserving businesses.

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We’re not just hardware. We’re your neighbors

BRIANNA REINHOLD Professional counselor Brianna identifies the signs of domestic violence that aren’t always easy to see.

SHERMAN & EUPHEMIA WEEKES Property management duo Sherman and Euphemia have new tips for surviving a renter’s market.

TOM SCHUMAN Contributing reporter Tom catches up with old friend representing Maricopa and his craft in France.

Published advertisements are not an endorsement of products or advertising claims by InMaricopa . No part of this magazine may be reproduced by any means without the prior written permission of InMaricopa . Copyright 2025.

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InMaricopa.com | October 2025

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They’ve been working on the railroad BY ELIAS WEISS

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In a 1912 photograph, workers are seen laying railroad track through what is now the city of Maricopa. The town’s first station opened on Independence Day in 1887, marking the launch of service on the Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad. A station map from 1915 depicts the tracks and structures. That original two-story depot with its deep eaves and brick chimneys, was replaced in the 1930s. The structure was later relocated to Scottsdale’s McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in 2003, the same year Maricopa incorporated as a city. Today, the Maricopa station consists of a double-wide modular building with a waiting area and restrooms at 44605 W. Mercado Street. In 1996, passenger service to Phoenix Union Station was discontinued because of deteriorating track conditions along the Southern Pacific line west of Maricopa. With no funding available for repairs, Amtrak rerouted the Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle to Southern Pacific’s main line through Maricopa, leaving the city 25 miles south of the state capital as the nearest stop as it remains today.

Bottom up: Workers lay railroad track in Maricopa in 1912. | The 1915 station map. | The original two-story depot. | The station in 2025.

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InMaricopa.com | October 2025

HISTORY

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY For these and other historical stories, visit InMaricopa.com.

5 years ago

10 years ago

15 years ago

20 years ago

Two major projects broke ground in Maricopa as the city continued to expand its services and retail base. Sonoran Creek Marketplace, the retail complex along John Wayne Parkway anchored by Sprouts Farmers Market, began construction with leases also signed for Jimmy John’s, Filiberto’s, State Farm Insurance, Wynn Nails & Hair and The Joint Chiropractic. Farther south, Exceptional Community Hospital launched its $18 million, 20,000-square-foot facility, bringing Maricopa its first full-service hospital with a 24/7 emergency department, imaging suites, inpatient beds and air ambulance access.

Two Phoenix residents were arrested after sheriff’s deputies found 171 pounds of marijuana in the back seat of a sedan stopped at State Route 84 and Amarillo Valley Road. Driver Tawnya M. Othon, 43, and passenger Mykel D. Dorsey, 32, were each charged with possession, transportation and conspiracy, and booked on $25,000 bonds. Then-Sheriff Paul Babeu said the drugs were packaged in camouflaged bales “consistent with baled marijuana we see from Mexico,” adding, “The smugglers aren’t even trying to hide the drugs anymore. In this case, the smugglers threw the drugs into the back seat of the small sedan and off they went.” Both pleaded guilty to selling drugs.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office announced it would fight an order requiring the reinstatement of Deputy Raul Alverado, who was fired after allegedly abusing a frog while on duty in Maricopa. Investigators said Alverado admitted to witnesses that he kicked the frog, painted it with White Out and shocked it with a Taser in 2009 because he was “bored,” reportedly joking that the animal was “taking it like a champ.” He was terminated in April for lying about the incident, violating

Maricopa Unified School District Superintendent Alma Farrell announced she would retire after more than three decades of educating the community. She moved to Maricopa in 1958, began teaching reading in 1972 and was named superintendent in 1999. Looking back on her early days in town, Farrell said, “Everybody was so friendly. I fell in love with it from the beginning.” She passed away in March at age 80.

conduct codes and misusing county equipment. PCSO was ultimately forced to rehire him.

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InMaricopa.com | October 2025

October 2025 | InMaricopa.com

COMMUNITY

The Maricopa Community Alert Network (MCAN) keeps you in the loop when it matters most. Unplanned or extended road closures Public safety activity impacting your neighborhood Important updates that will help you make informed decisions - keeping you and your family safe!

Bottles of Kratom and 7-OH sold in Maricopa retail spaces.

Kratom Kronikles Maricopa vape shops seem to sell illegal drugs BY DAVID IVERSEN

Susan Eppard with her son Matthew Eller. He died in 2021 from a Kratom overdose, according to an autopsy.

“I didn’t have a clue what it was,” she remembered. “But I saw the prices on those bags and thought, well, there’s where all his money went.” Matthew told her it was an herb, no worse than a strong cup of coffee, the kind that made the day easier. “He thought it was for energy,” she recalled. At first, he seemed to believe it. Then he began to crave it. His hands shook. The sleep deepened. Matthew was the youngest of Susan’s six children, the one who made her laugh when the others grew too busy to try. “He was just always so full of life, always healthy, energetic,” she said. “He had the most charismatic personality, you know, lit up a room.” She paused to envision her last holiday with her son. “Every family gathering now just screams with his absence. It can’t be a happy Christmas

HE ALARM ON THE NIGHTSTAND could wake a neighborhood. It was the kind of clock sold to rock stars and linemen. Still, it

could not pull Matthew Eller from the depth he’d learned to reach. His mother, Susan Eppard, bought it when the other alarms failed, when she stood in his doorway in the Michigan mornings and watched the rise and fall of his chest, unsure whether to shake him or let him be. The siren wailed. He slept on. “He would go into a coma-like sleep where he couldn’t wake up,” Susan told InMaricopa . “I bought this sonic alarm clock that had a decibel level of a siren, and he could sleep through it.” Later, after he moved out, she would find the empties. Zip-top bags, light as paper, their prices stamped in a font meant to seem botanical: $12, $22.

October 2025 | InMaricopa.com WWW.MARICOPA-AZ.GOV/MCAN

InMaricopa.com | October 2025

COMMUNITY

A reporter left with 7-OH tablets in hand. On the back of the pack was a stark label in all caps: “WARNING: Addictive. MAY CAUSE DEPENDENCE. Kratom and its derivatives may cause addiction and serious side effects.” Red Star Vapor at Edison Pointe doesn’t carry 7-OH, a manager said. Distributors are offering, but so far, they’ve rejected them. InMaricopa shared its findings with Matt Lagrange of the Global Kratom Coalition, an industry-backed group that bills itself as both advocate and watchdog. The coalition funds lobbying to preserve access to kratom leaf, while publicly urging a crackdown on synthetic products like 7-OH. Its members include vendors, consumers and a rotating bench of scientists who argue the plant has been used safely for centuries. “Yes, those products are above the legal limit,” said Lagrange, confirming the products InMaricopa bought shouldn’t have been sold. “The law is clear,” the Arizona Department of Health Services said in response to an InMaricopa request to verify that the drugs were in fact over the legal limit. “No product may contain a level of 7-OH exceeding 2% of its alkaloid fraction.” Yet the products sit on shelves anyway, marketed with names that wink at prescription opioids, sold at a markup when compared to traditional kratom. Enforcement is more theory than practice. InMaricopa ’s findings sparked an ADHS investigation. The agency also issued a statement explaining that the Arizona Kratom Consumer Protection Act does not mandate regular inspections or testing but instead prohibits products above the 2% 7-OH threshold. Enforcement is typically triggered by con- sumer complaints or suspected violations, with local law enforcement able to act on a case-by- case basis. Retailers and distributors are expect- ed to use independent labs to ensure compliance. State Rep. T.J. Shope, the Republican who represents Maricopa, said he believes Arizona may need to go further than the current law. “At this point, we’re reviewing the FDA’s recommendations and considering whether legislation may be needed to bring Arizona into alignment. At the very least, we want to ensure that children cannot access these items. I’ll be monitoring the situation closely as I prepare leg- islation to introduce when the session begins in January,” said Shope in September. Enforcement at the local level has been just as passive as the state. Responsibility for the Arizona Kratom Consumer Protection

advocate, trying to raise awareness in her son’s name. Matthew. People will tell you kratom helps, eases pain, quells anxiety, reins in the cravings left behind by opioids. Susan has heard it all. She keeps her face neutral when they say it, the way you do when you’ve buried your ambition for a repeat debate and don’t care to exhume it. “I’m actually in a group with hundreds of people whose loved ones died from kratom,” she said. “And many of them, it was just the powder. Not the high-potent stuff. Just the powder. “Kratom sucked his soul out before it even took his life,” she said. Arizona’s law and its loopholes Closer to home, in Arizona, the line between

or Thanksgiving anymore. It’s all just the absence of Matthew.” He died Nov. 10, 2021. The autopsy left no doubt. Cause of death: The toxic effects of mitragynine, the chief alkaloid in kratom. Nothing else. No fentanyl hidden where even the cautious miss it, no cocktail of pills. Just the powder he thought was safe enough to buy at a corner store. “I had never heard of it until he moved out,” Susan said. “I didn’t even know he was using it. And even after I researched it, I had no idea it could kill him.” Susan Eppard has never been to Maricopa. But when InMaricopa wrote about another family dealing with the effects of kratom, she reached out. She is something of a nationwide

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Friese, 53. “By the end, he wasn’t even getting high. He just needed it to feel normal.” Within months, his use ballooned to more than $100 a day. Bank accounts quickly emptied. Family memorabilia were pawned to make up the deficit, to buy more kratom. Friese pulled credit cards from her husband’s wallet and monitored bank accounts daily. His addiction found workarounds, she said. The evidence was everywhere: hundreds of empty blue bottles tucked behind TVs, in drawers, in boxes in the garage. When he tried to quit, the withdrawals hit hard: restless legs, vomiting, shaking and what he described as “crawling out of my skin.” Friese sent him to rehab, once in-state and once in Wisconsin, where kratom is illegal. He’s now in a 90-day program in California. Friese is speaking publicly about her

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“This isn’t just about my family,” she told InMaricopa last month. “It’s about the next kid who picks this up at a gas station thinking it’s like an energy drink. They have no idea what it can do to them.” Arizona’s Kratom Consumer Protection Act limits how much of a powerful chemical called 7-OH can be in the product — no more than 2%. However, Friese says her husband bought more potent kratom from Maricopa retailers. She says she’s prepared to take her fight to lawmakers or even corporate headquarters of retailers selling the drinks. “If something good can come out of what my family has been through,” she said, “it’s making sure someone else doesn’t lose their family over a drink you can buy with your gas.”

From the outside, Andrea Friese’s marriage seemed unshakable: two decades together, children, a home in Glennwilde and the quiet rhythm of a family finding its way. Over the last four years, a $10 blue bottle from a Circle K was dismantling it. It started with a casual recommendation from a life coach to her husband: Skip prescription painkillers, avoid opioids and instead try a “natural” mood enhancer made from kava and kratom. Kratom, a plant whose compounds bind to the brain’s opioid receptors, can bring mild relaxation for some. For Friese’s husband, it brought relentless addiction. “He’d wake up in the middle of the night shaking, take a drink and go back to bed,” said

“natural supplement” and “street drug” has been sketched in statute for years, though you wouldn’t know it stepping into a vape shop. The Kratom Consumer Protection Act, passed in 2019, made it illegal to sell any product containing more than 2% 7-hydroxymitragynine, the concentrated alkaloid known as 7-OH. The law was meant to draw a boundary: Kratom leaf could stay, the stronger synthetic products could not. But the shelves tell a different story. At The Smoker’s Edge on John Wayne Parkway, clerks said they could barely keep 7-OH in stock. “It sells out fast,” a clerk admitted as InMaricopa staff went inside to see how easy it is to buy 7-OH. “We’re having trouble keeping it.” Few spaces remained. At Vape Etc. on John Wayne Parkway, a young clerk bagged a set of small, pale tabs with the same casual speed he used for bongs and vape juice. When asked if he’d ever tried them, he laughed. “Hell no,” he said. “I stay away from it. It’s easy to get addicted to.” The package on PRESS’D Extra Strength warns that it may be habit forming, cause addiction and even death.

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Act rests primarily with ADHS, with potential involvement from the Attorney General’s Office. Maricopa Police Department acknowledges it has not conducted any targeted enforcement because it hasn’t been asked to. “We stand ready to assist if formally tasked by state authorities or if a direct public safety threat emerges,” said police spokesperson Monica Williams. Until then, the law remains largely unenforced at the street level. When reporters reached Brian Chung, owner of Vape Etc., he sounded weary. “I don’t make 7-OH,” he said flatly. “I don’t make it in my kitchen or put it in the store. That’s important to know. My distributor pushes the stuff in. Every week a new rep comes and stocks us up.” Just a few months ago, it was hard to keep stocked, said Chung. He said he gave it only a small shelf, “not like other products that take up space.” But in a small shop, it’s hard to argue with the demand. “They tell me, ‘You should sell our product. This could be profitable,’” Chung said. “No one ever explained the state laws to me.” Two other local vape shops, Cloud Slingers and The Smokers Edge, both sell the same 7-OH. Owners of those stores did not respond to requests for comment. According to the CDC’s State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System, kratom has been detected in thousands of overdose deaths nationwide, with 2,343 fatalities between 2020 and 2022 in which the drug was listed as either the sole or a contributing factor. ADHS reported mitragynine, the primary alkaloid in kratom, was detected in 19 fatal overdose cases in 2023, the most recent data released. Many of these This summer, federal regulators finally moved. On July 29, the FDA recommended scheduling concentrated synthetic 7-OH as a controlled substance, explicitly drawing a line between kratom leaf and the derivative that scientists say is up to 13 times stronger than morphine. Days later, Florida’s attorney general followed with an emergency ban, tightening loopholes almost as fast as the industry could find them. The action was hailed as decisive. “We saw it with spice. We saw it with synthetic tea,” said Global Kratom Coalition Executive Director Matthew Lowe during an online panel with experts in August. “Without clear scheduling, these markets never clean themselves up. With it, real enforcement, real education, it can.” deaths involved other substances. A national fight over 7-OH

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said. “There’s no way you can regulate them safely. The risk is too high. They should not be sold in gas stations, in smoke shops, in convenience stores.” A mother’s mission For Susan Eppard, the distinction feels academic. Her son died from mitragynine itself, not from a derivative. To her, both belong under the same ban. “What bothers me about the FDA,” she said, “is they’re strictly going after 7-OH. But it was the kratom plant that killed my son. They’re missing the boat.” These products are not dietary supplements. They’re opioids. Thirteen times stronger than morphine, sold for $6 at your corner store. If you think it’s crazy to have morphine sold in gas stations, the same logic applies here.” GLOBAL KRATOM COALITION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MATTHEW LOWE She has no interest in sitting down with the trade groups who defend the plant while disavowing the pills. “They lie, right in front of lawmakers, even when the toxicology reports are in front of them,” she says. “I don’t want to deal with any of them.” Instead, she keeps traveling, testifying in hearing rooms in states she barely knows, joining hundreds of other families who have lost someone. “It’s my entire life now,” she admits. “I don’t get paid. I just try to make sure these laws get passed.” For now, Arizona’s rule sits on the books: 2% 7-OH, no more. But in practice, that rule is scarcely enforced. Vape shops sell out of substances above that limit with little concern from state regulators. Distributors send reps weekly, say Maricopa vape store owners. Stores sell out before the reps return. Mothers bury sons. And in Maricopa, a clerk slips pale tabs into a nondescript paper bag. Tabs he wouldn’t dare take himself, as the line between supplement and opioid blurs one sale at a time.

Added another panelist: “The DEA’s role is critical. If 7-OH becomes a controlled substance, then local officers are empowered to act. Without that, they can’t touch it.” The FDA called its move a matter of protecting the public from what it warned could be the “fourth wave” of the opioid crisis. At a closed press briefing in August, the Global Kratom Coalition gathered reporters to make what they called “a critical distinction.” Their target was not the leaf itself but the concentrated synthetic byproduct now being sold in Arizona vape shops under slang names: “These products are not dietary supplements. They’re opioids,” said Lowe. “Thirteen times stronger than morphine, sold for $6 at your corner store. If you think it’s crazy to have morphine sold in gas stations, the same logic applies here.” Dr. Charles White, a pharmacologist at the University of Connecticut, offered an analogy designed to land with the public: “An apple seed contains amygdalin, which can turn into cyanide. Imagine someone extracted it, converted it to pure cyanide, and sold it as an apple-flavored candy. Is that still an apple? No. And you can’t rely on safety data from apples to make it seem safe.” The coalition underscored the difference in pharmacology. Kratom leaf contains about 50 alkaloids; mitragynine accounts for roughly two- thirds. By contrast, synthetic 7-OH is almost pure alkaloid, up to 100 times the concentration found in natural leaf. “Kratom leaf and 7-OH,” White said, “don’t even live on the same planet in terms of risk.” Panelists pointed to Florida as a model. After its initial 1% cap was exploited with “Florida compliant” 7-OH pills, the state’s attorney general tightened the rule within days, lowering the threshold to 0.04% by dried weight. “Regulators there knew people would look for loopholes,” one panelist said. “They were agile enough to close them. That’s the kind of vigilance it takes.” “Blues.” “Perks.” Others called for a registration system: products logged with certificates of analysis, packaging that avoids cartoons or candy flavors, clear dosing tools to avoid accidental overdoses. “You could walk into a store,” one advocate said, “and immediately see if a product was approved or not. That’s the level of transparency we need.” Yet even within the coalition, there was no path forward for 7-OH itself. “We’ve looked really carefully at these products,” one panelist

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