ADAMS COUNTY, Ill. (KHQA) — Chad White was described by his family as the best father and person you could ever dream of.
“He was just the nicest guy, he was popular but he didn’t let that affect it. He was nice to anybody and everybody, he had friends, wherever he went Chad made friends, he was the best son, I could not have asked for a better son,” said Lisa Garner, Chad White’s mother.
Lisa and her husband Mike were out eating in Quincy last August, when they received a call that no parent ever wants to receive.
Their son had collapsed.
“I went in immediately, his daughters were there, and he started having a seizure and collapsed about six feet away from them,” Garner explained.
Chad had passed away at the age of 34 due to a buildup of the drug kratom in his system.
Kratom is a drug that is derived from a tree in Southeast Asia, and is used for its stimulant for things such as chronic pain, as well as self-treatment for opioid withdrawal.
The drug has become a hot topic for regulation around the country, including here in Illinois, due to its dangerous effects.
“Pharmical therapeutic products that affect the immunoreceptor in the brain, and have a certain shape, are defined as opiates because they affect the opiate receptor in the central nervous system in the brain,” said Kentucky Senator and physician Donald Douglas.
Chad had been taking the drug for anxiety, as well as maintenance for his addiction that he had been sober from for 10 years.
“He just kind of started taking this as a supplement, and he thought it was safe. He really thought it was natural and safe and kind of vicey which he was kind of concerned about,” said Tiffany White, Chad White’s sister.
According to the coroner’s report, Chad’s death was due to mitragynine intoxication, the main active compound in kratom.
His family says now, they want families here locally to know about the effects of the drug.
“Going back to its core or where it’s from and everything, I think that is what people are kind of thinking that they can base their information off of and it’s not accurate. By the time it’s shipped and reaches the U.S., it’s dirty and unregulated, and that’s the fact of the matter,” White said.
Tiffany White is Chad’s sister, as well as a registered nurse, and says there has been no concern about it from many of her peers in the medical field.
She says with the loss of her brother, she hopes to bring more awareness and regulation to the drug.
“I know a lot more kids, even really young kids take it, and adults and really back it saying it’s a life-saver and it’s not. I just really hope this gets to those people before it’s too late.”
