COLRAIN — Following the lead of nearby municipalities, the Board of Health is considering a townwide ban on kratom products, a substance with opioid-like effects commonly sold at convenience stores.
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.
Unlike natural kratom leaf products, synthetic kratom can contain higher concentrations of 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), a potent opioid derived from the plant.
“Most of what’s around here is synthetic, man-made and has the other nickname of ‘gas station heroin.’ It’s horrendous stuff,” Randy Crochier, a regional health agent with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), told the Colrain Board of Health at its Tuesday night meeting. “It’s kind of like if you grew tobacco in your backyard and compared it to what Philip Morris and other large tobacco sells.”
Board of Health member Nina Martin-Anzuoni, a nurse, said she has heard of addiction and deaths linked to kratom use.
On July 1, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) filed its intent to temporarily place synthetic 7-OH under Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act alongside heroin, LSD, marijuana, MDMA, methaqualone, peyote and other drugs that the federal Department of Health & Human Services has determined have no medical use and a high potential for abuse.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts’ House Committee on Ways and Means is reviewing a bill that would ban the sale of synthetic kratom and products with 7-OH levels above 2% of the product’s overall alkaloid makeup. According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 7-OH typically takes up less than 2% of kratom leaves’ total alkaloid content.
If state legislators sign this bill into law, violators would face up to a $500 fine for the first offense and up to a $1,000 fine for further offenses. Those who sell kratom to customers under 21 years of age would face a $1,000 fine.
Without federal and state regulations in place, cities and towns have enacted their own bans, including Greenfield, where the Board of Health voted on July 29 to ban the sale of both synthetic and naturally derived kratom products, a similar ban to Northampton’s.
Several Franklin County and North Quabbin communities, including Athol, Gill, Deerfield and now Colrain, are also considering targeting kratom products.
“It scared me to death,” Colrain Board of Health Chair Barbara Griffin said of the Greenfield Board of Health’s kratom discussion.
She brought up the packaging for kratom products like MRMX’s cartoon alligator logo as a concern.
“I could very easily see a very naïve person like me thinking this was something I could give to a little kid,” Griffin said.
“Like Pixy Stix,” Colrain Board of Health member Tim Slowinski chimed in.
Martin-Anzuoni added that she and her colleagues “already [have] enough trouble with what we call “granny’s purse,” or when children mistake their grandparents’ medications as candy.
Board of Health members plan on learning more about kratom products before scheduling a public hearing on a potential ban or regulation. Martin-Anzuoni said she would prefer that the board enact a similar policy to nearby communities like Greenfield to avoid confusing businesses and town visitors.
“I like consistency,” Martin-Anzuoni said. “Imagine if, let’s say Shelburne, said you couldn’t have studded snow tires, but if you live in Colrain we could have studded snow tires and Charlemont was, ‘Well, you can have it for these six weeks.’ … How do you live? How do you get around?”
Although no stores in Colrain currently sell kratom products, Crochier stressed that municipalities stepping in can move legislation along, calling 175 towns, representing a majority, “the magic number.” He compared the movement to ban kratom products to the push for smoking bans in public or private areas.
“It started with towns,” Crochier said. “It may not make a difference … but I’ve always said it’s easier to regulate something that doesn’t exist than when it does afterwards.”
