Kratom, other products, banned in Clinton
By Randy Bell
Clinton businesses will no longer be allowed to sell kratom and other “gas station drugs” after the Board of Aldermen voted to ban those products. The resolution passed at the Board’s September 17 meeting prohibits the use, purchase, possession, distribution, sale or offering for sale of synthetic cocaine, other synthetic products or kratom. The City was planning to mail notices to businesses explaining the new ordinance.
City Attorney Will Purdie told the Board that the Food and Drug Administration has issued numerous health warnings about kratom, an herbal substance which he called “bad stuff.”
The Mayo Clinic describes kratom as “unsafe and ineffective,” and the Drug Enforcement Administration lists it as “a drug and chemical of concern.” At low doses, it acts as a stimulant. At higher doses, it has sedative effects. According to the DEA, kratom consumption can lead to addiction, and, as an unregulated product, quality control is an issue. Tests have shown salmonella, heavy metals and other contaminants in kratom samples.
Several bills at the State Capitol this year to restrict or regulate the sale of kratom died. So, local governments are doing what the legislature hasn’t done.
“It’s been addressed in, I think, probably twenty other cities in the state, thus far,” Purdie told the Board. “I believe it’s something we need to get out of our gas stations, at the very least.” Purdie said the ordinance will also address a number of other synthetic materials which are closely related.
Clinton Police Chief Ford Hayman says kratom hasn’t been a serious law enforcement issue in the City so far, but he applauds the new ordinance.
“I support the City’s decision to eliminate the sale of kratom in Clinton,” Hayman wrote in an email. “There appears to be very little medical information to support kratom usage for positive benefits; and, until further research proves that kratom provides a medical benefit, I support eliminating kratom in Clinton.”
My son Matthew Eller died from Kratom on November 10, 2021. Toxicology report states my son died from “the TOXIC effects of Mitragynine” an alkaloid found only in KRAT0M. He didn’t have any prescription drugs, no street drugs nor alcohol in his system. He didn’t have any underlying conditions.