Kratom.
As the Mayo Clinic describes it: Kratom is a supplement that is sold as an energy booster, mood lifter, pain reliever and remedy for the symptoms of quitting opioids, called withdrawal. But the truth about kratom is not so simple. And there are safety problems linked to its use.
The article continues: Kratom is an herbal extract that comes from the trees of an evergreen tree called Mitragyna speciosa. The tree grows in Southeast Asia. However, some kratom sellers add more of the active ingredient than kratom naturally has. Depending on the amount of active ingredient in the product, taking kratom can be harmful. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned people not to use kratom because of possible harm it can cause.
A key aspect of the kratom issue is something called 7-OH. It makes up a tiny portion of the kratom leaf--less than 1 percent--but can be, and is being, synthesized to a strength of many, many times its potency in the plant.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a report online in July titled: Preventing The Next Wave of the Opioid Epidemic: What You Need to Know About 7-OH. It states: 7-OH (formally known as 7-Hydroxymitragynine) is a powerful psychoactive compound that occurs naturally in very small amounts in the Kratom plant. But 7-OH is Engineered to be Addictive. It is a Potent Opioid by Design, is the heading of one page. Its power is radically expanded through a synthesization process.
This dangerous opioid is sitting on store shelves, making gas stations and convenience stores risky places where kids can purchase these drugs as easily as buying candy, says the report.
It continues: Enhanced or spiked kratom products may appear to be natural leaf, but actually contain as much as 500% more 7-OH than would be expected naturally.
It adds: 7-OH is 13x more potent than morphine.
Among articles about this is one published online by the University of Colorado in August headed What Is 7-OH, and Why Is It Being Targeted in Kratom Products? The subhead: An expert explains the synthetically derived part of the kratom leaf and its dangerous and addictive potential. The piece describes the surge of these high-potency [kratom] products loaded with 7-OH being sold in convenience stores and smoke shops.
Suffolk County, New York government has been a leader in taking on kratom.
In 2016, the Suffolk County Legislature passed a measure, authored by Legislator Steve Stern, and signed into law by the county executive, banning the sale of kratom in Suffolk to anyone under 21.
It declared: This legislature finds and determines that kratom affects the brain like an opiate and can be highly addictive.This legislature also finds that long-term use of kratom has significant negative health effects.Withdrawal symptoms are very similar to opiate withdrawal, including severe depression, anxiety, psychosis. This legislature further finds that overdoses of kratom are also dangerous, causing hallucinations, delusions, listlessness, tremors, aggression.
Penalties for those who sell, offer for sale or otherwise distribute kratom in the county of Suffolk to any person under the age of 21, says the law, shall be punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or up to one year's imprisonment.
In an interview, Stern, now a member of the New York State Assembly, a resident of Dix Hills on Long Island with a district including much of Huntington Town and northeastern Nassau County on Long Island, said Suffolk County was early on this.
Stern is pleased that this year the State Legislature passed a measure expanding through the state the Suffolk ban on the sale of kratom to those under 21. The bill is now on the desk of Governor Kathy Hochul. Also passed this year was a state measure requiring a warning label on kratom products.
The bill concerning sale is sponsored by Assemblymember John T. McDonald III of Cohoes and Senator Patricia Fahy of Albany. In a statement, they said kratom has surged in popularity in recent years, particularly among adolescents and young adults. In higher doses, the substance mimics opioids, with effects that include respiratory depression, seizures, liver toxicity and, in some cases, death.
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