Kratom with a side of cheesesteak: A sub shop’s vending machine draws customers desperate to kick opioids
When the vending machine first arrived, McNesby worried about his restaurant becoming a hot spot of Tucson’s opioid epidemic. “I did until I saw people who I believe had character. Or people who were trying to gain character. And there was a thing that seemed to be sincerely helping them,” he said.
It was that kind of dedication to self-improvement that convinced McNesby to keep the machine in his shop in the first place. He’s an old-fashioned guy. He believes in hard work. He doesn’t own a cellphone or a computer, and still memorizes his friends’ phone numbers. “When you say Facebook, Twitter … that’s all Chinese algebra to me,” he said. “The people who come in here so swear by it,” he said. “Just yesterday somebody came in, they drove from two hours away, and they ate lunch, and they bought some of the kratom, and they’re pastors. … All walks of life come in here. They’re trying to better themselves or they wouldn’t be getting this.”
Original Article (Stat News):
Kratom with a side of cheesesteak: A sub shop’s vending machine draws customers desperate to kick opioids
Artwork Fair Use by: The Fix
