Six weeks before he died, Brandon Clarke sat in the back seat of a deputy's patrol car, handcuffs digging into his left wrist as he shifted his 6-foot-8 frame in the cramped space. Outside, three officers searched his white Corvette along the shoulder of Highway 64 in eastern Arkansas. Moments earlier, deputies had pulled over the Memphis Grizzlies forward with guns drawn, accusing him of attempting to flee at speeds topping 100 mph. But now, officers were more interested in the blue duffle bag on Clarke's passenger seat. Reaching inside, they found seven smaller bags containing capsules of green powder and a few chewable tablets. They stacked them on the Corvette's roof as Clarke watched from the cruiser's backseat. 'Sir, it's all legal,' Clarke's deep voice called out with calm certainty in an exchange captured by the cruiser's dashcam and obtained by The Athletic. The bags were labeled '100% Pure Mitragyna Speciosa,' with handwritten names such as 'The Juice,' 'Euflooria' and 'Gold Rhino.' Online, the various strains totaled $223 and promised a 'solid amount of relief,' 'a speed boost' and 'a mind and body melting burst of happiness in a plant.' Waiving his Miranda rights, Clarke quickly identified what had caught officers' attention. 'It's just kratom,' he said. In the same botanical family as coffee, kratom has been used for centuries in Southeast Asia. In recent decades, it has developed a fervent following in the United States among people who say the kratom leaf – or its synthetic derivative 7-hydroxymitragynine, commonly known as 7-OH – helps manage chronic pain, kick opioid addictions and boost stamina. But increasingly, doctors, scientists and lawmakers have warned that it is addictive, dangerous and poorly regulated. Critics have dubbed it 'gas station heroin,' arguing that its widespread availability has outpaced efforts to understand its risks. In Tennessee, where Clarke spent his entire NBA career playing for the Grizzlies, kratom is sold openly in smoke shops and corner stores. It comes in brightly colored cans resembling popular energy drinks, in capsules packaged like everyday vitamins and in sugar-coated gummies made to look like candy. Beginning July 1, however, Tennessee will join two dozen other states in banning or restricting kratom. Arkansas outlawed the plant a decade ago – long before Clarke crossed into the state in April on his way to show off his new supercharged Corvette ZR1. There, the 235 grams of kratom and 7-OH deputies said they found inside Clarke's duffel bag carried the weight of a felony drug trafficking charge, one prosecutors put on par with heroin possession. That amount of kratom wouldn't be considered excessive or unusual, said Mac Haddow, a senior fellow on public policy for the American Kratom Association, a consumer group that advocates for states to regulate kratom, not ban it. 'It was a month or two months supply,' Haddow said. On May 11, those felony charges no longer mattered. Clarke was found dead inside a Southern California home. He was 29. News stations reported that drug paraphernalia was found at the scene. Law enforcement officials have declined to confirm such details. Toxicology reports from the Los Angeles County Department of the Medical Examiner are expected to take weeks to months.