SCRANTON \u2014 For Patrick Flynn, it\u2019s personal.<\/p>\n
Even before being elected to Scranton City Council in November, Flynn expressed concerns to Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher about the prevalence of kratom in the community.<\/p>\n
Now, an ordinance will be introduced during Tuesday night\u2019s council meeting aiming to prohibit the sale, possession, distribution and manufacturing of kratom \u2014 a substance commonly used to self-treat conditions such as pain, coughing, diarrhea, anxiety and depression, opioid use disorder and opioid withdrawal \u2014 and its derivatives in the city, Gallagher announced during a news conference in the foyer of the Lackawanna County Courthouse on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Gallagher said the ordinance will allow for enforceable penalties, including fines of up to $300 per violation and up to 90 days in prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cRetailers in Scranton are now on notice,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cNoncompliance will result in enforcement actions including prosecution where appropriate. We will hold those people accountable because it\u2019s our responsibility for members of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
During Monday\u2019s event, Gallagher, Flynn, city council President Tom Schuster and Joseph Van Wie, CEO of Fellowship House and chief marketing officer of True North Recovery Detox, discussed the growing concern around the widespread availability of kratom \u2014 regularly sold over the counter at convenience stores, smoke shops and gas stations despite its significant psychoactive effects and potential for dependency.<\/p>\n
\u201cProtecting public health and protecting vulnerable residents must come first,\u201d Flynn said. \u201cAs long as I\u2019m a member of city council, when it comes to selling what many people call \u2018gas station heroin\u2019 or other substances that are putting the health and safety of our residents at risk, the City of Scranton will not be open for business. This legislation is about protecting people in recovery, it\u2019s about protecting young people who might see these products on the counter and assume they\u2019re harmless, and it\u2019s about sending a clear message that we\u2019re going to take proactive steps to protect our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the scientific name of Mitragyna speciosa, kratom is a tropical tree in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. Long an herbal remedy in Southeast Asia, kratom leaves can be crushed and ingested via smoking, brewing or capsules.<\/p>\n
Not illegal in Pennsylvania, kratom products sold in stores include forms of vapes, powders and capsules. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved kratom for any medical use. It is not controlled under the Controlled Substances Act, but there may be some state regulations or prohibitions against the possession and use of kratom, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which has listed kratom as a drug and chemical of concern.<\/p>\n
Kratom\u2019s two main chemical components are mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH-mitragynine), according to the FDA.<\/p>\n
While Van Wie witnessed kratom become available in the region throughout the past decade, more recently he has noticed more people seeking treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cKratom is unregulated, widely accessible and increasingly potent in synthesized forms,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s being sold at gas stations, vape shops and convenience stores, often without age restrictions, labeling standards or meaningful oversight. At Fellowship House, and across treatment centers, we\u2019re seeing a sharp rise in individuals, many of them young, developing dependency, experiencing several withdrawal symptoms \u2014 lasting 30, 40, even 60 days \u2014 and requiring medical interventions that rival and exceed traditional opioids. We\u2019re also seeing increasing reports of overdose and toxicity tied to high doses of synthetic kratom products. This (ordinance) is not about criminalizing individuals, it\u2019s about protecting communities, especially our youths.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Wie stressed the importance of eliminating access to kratom in Scranton and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s evolved rapidly over the last five years,\u201d he said. \u201cMost of the relapses I see at residential services or outpatient services are on kratom because of its accessibility. It\u2019s been like a plague on the recovery community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 For Patrick Flynn, it\u2019s personal. Even before being elected to Scranton City Council in November, Flynn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[5871,990,28396,72083,47296,72084,201,571,72085,71990,178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-159208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-brian-gallagher","9":"tag-city-council","10":"tag-convenience-stores","11":"tag-fellowship-house","12":"tag-gas-stations","13":"tag-joseph-van-wie","14":"tag-lackawanna-county","15":"tag-lackawanna-county-courthouse","16":"tag-opioid-withdrawal","17":"tag-patrick-flynn","18":"tag-scranton","19":"tag-scranton-headlines","20":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}