Updated midday Sept. 23: The Mississippi State Department of Health issued a public caution about counterfeit pills and unregulated psychoactive products—tablets, gummies, liquids, shots, and other commercially packaged items—whose ingredients, concentration, and purity consumers cannot judge by appearance alone. WAPT reported the warning as Lafayette County Metro Narcotics continues investigating whether two University of Mississippi student deaths involved overdoses.

Authorities say two students, ages 18 and 20, were found dead Monday, Sept. 21, in separate Oxford locations—one on campus and one off campus—and that packaged kratom sold from a retail store was present at each scene. Investigators have not confirmed that kratom or any other substance caused either death, nor that the cases are connected. Autopsies and toxicology are being scheduled, with results possibly weeks away; campus police and the coroner have urged the public to avoid social-media speculation that could harm grieving families.

Metro Narcotics previously encouraged people to avoid kratom and any substance not prescribed or obtained from a trusted, regulated source. The state health department’s message broadens that caution to counterfeit pharmaceuticals and retail “professional” packaging that can mask unknown contents—even when products are sold in stores or online. Kratom, derived from Mitragyna speciosa, occupies a contested regulatory space: advocates market it for pain or opioid withdrawal, while the FDA has warned about dependence risks, contamination episodes, and interactions with other drugs.

National and local outlets including NBC News, USA Today, WAPT, and WCBI agree on the ages, separate scenes, kratom’s presence, and pending labs. They diverge mainly in how heavily they foreground prior FDA kratom-safety debates versus the unfinished medical-examiner work. NewsHabit will not assert a cause of death until official findings are released.