Two University of Mississippi students were found dead Monday in separate incidents, and packaged kratom — a legal, opioid-like substance sold from retail stores — was recovered at both scenes. Yet the federal agency tasked with protecting Americans from dangerous substances has nothing to say, because the kratom lobby has spent years making sure it stays that way.

The deaths at Ole Miss lay bare a regulatory double standard that should enrage every working parent in this country. The FDA moves with lightning speed to target vitamin supplements and off-label prescriptions, but a substance the Mayo Clinic describes as producing "opioid-like sedative" effects in large doses sits on convenience store shelves in powder, pill, and liquid form — unregulated, unstudied, and untouched.

Lafayette County Metro Narcotics is running two separate death investigations. The agency stated Tuesday there is "no confirmed evidence indicating that the two deaths are connected" and "not have confirmed information indicating that kratom or any other substance was a contributing factor in either death."

But kratom was there. Both times. That is the fact authorities are asking the public to overlook while they "avoid speculation."

The New York Post reported that public safety officials were dispatched to Stewart Hall around 1:30 p.m. Monday for a "possible overdose," where an individual was found unresponsive and given CPR. The Patriot News, citing the Oxford Eagle, reported that fraternity and sorority events have been canceled and that free Narcan — which reverses opioid overdoses — is available through vending machines on campus and downtown. When the campus needs naloxone vending machines, the substance in question deserves more than institutional silence.

Kratom is restricted within Lafayette County, where the university is located, but remains legally sold in other parts of Mississippi, according to Mississippi Today. Yale Medicine notes it is often sold in convenience stores. A stimulant in small doses and an opioid-like sedative in larger ones, according to both the Mayo Clinic and Yale Medicine, it occupies a regulatory no-man's-land that benefits everyone except the consumer.

Authorities urged the public to avoid kratom and "any other medication or substance that was not prescribed to you or obtained from a trusted, regulated source." Notice the word: regulated. The officials themselves admit the substance isn't regulated, yet the FDA — the agency with the power to do something about that — has directed its enforcement firepower elsewhere.

Ole Miss said in a statement it is "heartbroken" and warned against circulating "unverified information." The university and narcotics squad both pleaded with the public not to speculate. The identities of the dead students have not been released.

The question isn't whether kratom killed these two students — that's what autopsies and toxicology will determine. The question is why a substance that mimics opioids, lands at the scenes of young Americans' deaths, and requires Narcan on campus is still being sold over the counter while the FDA chases easier targets. Follow the money. The kratom industry has lobbied aggressively to avoid federal scheduling, and the results speak for themselves — two dead students, kratom at both scenes, and nobody in Washington willing to say the quiet part out loud.