GREENFIELD — With an affirmative vote from the Board of Health, the sale of kratom, a substance with opioid-like effects commonly sold at convenience stores, will be banned in Greenfield, effective sometime late August or early September.
Health Director Michael Theroux told Board of Health members Wednesday night that the ban can go into effect 30 days after notification of the vote is mailed to all convenience stores and other retailers in the city. If the Health Department is able to mail notifications this week, the ban will go into effect as soon as the end of August, which would allow the department to begin compliance checks in September.
Kratom is an herbal extract that is sold in several forms, including powders, capsules, gummies, brewed teas and shots. At low doses, kratom’s effects resemble a stimulant, while at higher doses, users describe pain-relieving and relaxing effects like a sedative, according to the Mayo Clinic.
In recent meetings, the board had been weighing a possible ban, and whether that ban should apply simply to synthetic kratom products, which can contain higher concentrations of 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), a potent opioid derived from the plant, or to all kratom products, natural or synthetic.
People from across the country joined the board’s meeting virtually on Wednesday to testify that natural kratom products can be just as deadly as synthetic ones.
“My daughter Kielee died March 1, 2025. She was only 23 years old,” said Tia Rustici, of Idaho. “She was beautiful, compassionate and full of life. She lived daily with pain from EDS (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome) and POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), and because she wanted to avoid opiates, she searched for a natural alternative. She found kratom.
“The kratom industry told her it was natural, safe and similar to coffee. What they did not tell her was kratom’s primary active compound, mitragynine, can be addictive and in some cases deadly,” Rustici continued. “After a full autopsy and toxicology and death investigation, the cause of Kielee’s death was determined to be mitragynine overdose. Kratom took my daughter’s life. Not a street drug, but a product sold in gas stations and smoke shops across America, and that is often marketed with colorful packaging as a safe and natural product.”
Ohio resident Dan Gibbs, who lost his son Austin in 2023, said kratom represents a “public health risk” both in natural and synthetic forms. He urged the board to scrap plans to ban just synthetic kratom and instead ban all forms outright.
“The proposal would prohibit many kratom products, but it would still allow the sale of raw, unadulterated kratom leaf and powder, and that is the fundamental problem,” Gibbs said. “The proposal changes how kratom is sold, but it does not change what kratom does once it enters a human body.”
Kratom took my daughter’s life. Not a street drug, but a product sold in gas stations and smoke shops across America.”
Tia rustici
Holly Trouville of Dracut shared that her son Tyrell also died of a kratom-based mitragynine overdose in 2024.
“My only goal is to prevent another parent from having to feel the complete and utter devastation that I feel on a daily basis,” Trouville said.
She urges all cities and towns across the state to pass bans. Nearby communities such as Northampton and Amherst have adopted bans, and one is being considered in Deerfield.
Trouville said advocates say that the natural products are safe and can help people with pain, but if that was the case, “why won’t the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] approve natural kratom for human consumption?” She also raised the question of, if that were true, why the U.S. Army would ban soldiers from possessing, using or distributing kratom.
A memo dated June 23 from Army Secretary Dan Driscoll prohibits soldiers from using, possessing or distributing kratom, and an earlier Department of Defense memo from September 2025 declared it a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This past May, the U.S. Coast Guard also banned kratom use among members.
According to the FDA, the agency “has warned consumers not to use kratom because of the risk of serious adverse events, including liver toxicity, seizures and substance use disorder (SUD). In rare cases, deaths have been associated with kratom use, as confirmed by a medical examiner or toxicology reports.”
Jon Benninger, of Connecticut, told the board he works with a distribution company that sells an herbal tonic containing kava root and kratom, marketed as a mood and energy booster. He said while deaths are unfortunate, he believes the danger lies in synthetic, not natural kratom.
“We’ve not had any reportable incidents. These examples that people mentioned are tragic, there’s no question about it,” Benninger said. “The problem with kratom … is the synthetic kratom can be 500 times stronger than the natural.”
While Benninger claimed the natural product is safe, Feel Free settled an $8.75 million class action lawsuit in March 2025 that alleged Botanic Tonics, the maker of Feel Free Wellness Tonics, failed to warn consumers about the highly addictive nature of kratom. Additionally, Botanic Tonics is facing another lawsuit, filed last month in Florida, alleging that the product caused the death of a 32-year-old from Tequesta, Florida.
The Board of Health ultimately voted to ban the sale of all kratom products, both synthetic and naturally derived. Greenfield Public Health Nurse Megan Tudryn said the ban is based on one in Northampton, with a few changes, namely to the fines.
Tudryn said that in Greenfield, all violations will come with a $1,000 fine. A first offense will also come with a three-day suspension of health permits, a second offense will come with a seven-day suspension, a third offense entails a 30-day suspension, and any subsequent violations would result in permanent revocation of all health permits.
“This would ban all kratom products,” Tudryn emphasized.
Nitrous oxide
During Wednesday’s meeting, board members also considered a ban on the sale of nitrous oxide, but did not vote. The board is expected to discuss the matter further at its next meeting in August.
Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, is a colorless gas with a sweet odor. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) it is used for medical and industrial purposes, but has also been used as a recreational drug as it can “make people feel euphoric and relaxed.”
The gas can cause dizziness, drowsiness, headaches, tingling, nausea, vomiting, balance problems, loss of consciousness and mild hallucinations, according to the NIH. The effects of long-term use are not yet known, but it is believed it can cause brain and nerve damage, as nitrous oxide changes the reactions and metabolisms of nerve cells.
Theroux told board members that he has heard several businesses in Greenfield do sell nitrous oxide, and in conversations with the Police Department, he determined that while it is illegal to inhale the product to get high, it is not illegal to sell or possess it. Therefore, police enforcement requires officers to see the product being used illegally.
If the Board of Health bans the sale of nitrous oxide products, however, the Health Department can then enforce the ban.
