Step inside a convenience store and you\u2019ll likely see kratom.<\/p>\n
Its a plant from southeast Asia thats sold as natural and synthetic products. It can make users stimulated or sedated, based on how much they take. But it’s also not widely regulated. <\/p>\n
Dutchess County Mental Health Commissioner Jean-Marie Niebuhr says thats a big problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s an assumption that it’s safe because it’s so readily available when in fact, kratom users don’t really understand what it is that they’re getting into,” she said. “And in fact, it can have very serious side effects.”<\/p>\n
The Dutchess County Legislature passed a ban on synthetic kratom products, specifying that some members of the body wanted to keep the natural product available to adults. This came in spite of County Executive Sue Serino’s push to ball all kratom products. <\/p>\n
Oneida County proposed a full kratom ban this past June.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moves come as New York state is considering taking action on synthetic versions of the drug commonly called 7-OH.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re making sure that it’s illegal for those who are under 21 to access kratom,” state Office of Addiction Services and Supports Commissioner Dr. Chinazo Cunningham said. “That is the case now. We’re also making sure that people understand what they’re getting into. How kratom is marketed, the labels, making sure that the ingredients that are actually in that product are accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some, like Michael March, say that kratom has helped with his spinal injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like suboxone, methadone and all these other things that are going to get pushed on me constantly are worse than some of the things that are out there,” he said. “I do think that before you ban it, that there should be some more research done.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, kratom products have not demonstrated to be safe or effective for any medical condition.<\/p>\n
A study from America\u2019s Poison Centers found that reports involving kratom increased from 19 in 2010 to over 1,200 in 2023.<\/p>\n
Niebuhr says people should reach out to service providers if they need help and not buy something from a gas station.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil a product can really be researched and we fully understand the implications of it, the effects of it and the dangers of it, it really shouldn’t be available,” Niebuhr said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Spectrum News 1 reached out to the state Department of Health about these kratom bans. A spokesperson said, “The Department supports regulating kratom to protect public health and patient safety. Establishing quality standards and testing requirements would help ensure safer and more consistent kratom products.\u201d<\/p>\n
Serino’s office said that a public hearing on the Dutchess County local law must be held within the next 30 days before the county executive takes action on the legislation adopted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Step inside a convenience store and you\u2019ll likely see kratom. Its a plant from southeast Asia thats sold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2953,17905,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,87,200],"class_list":["post-319142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-health","tag-john-camera","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}