SCRANTON \u2014 For Patrick Flynn, it\u2019s personal.<\/p>\n
Even before he was elected to Scranton City Council in November, Flynn expressed concerns to Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher about the prevalence of kratom in the city.<\/p>\n
Now, Flynn will introduce an ordinance aiming to prohibit the sale, possession, distribution and manufacturing of kratom and its derivatives. The substance is legal in Pennsylvania and is commonly used to treat pain, coughing, diarrhea, anxiety and depression, opioid use disorder and opioid withdrawal. It is not approved for medical use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.<\/p>\n
The ordinance, which Flynn will introduce during Tuesday night\u2019s council meeting, would become effective upon approval. There would be a grace period for stores to remove the products from their shelves, Gallagher noted during a news conference Monday in the Lackawanna County Courthouse.<\/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. We support the members of our community who have small mom and pop shops, but they also have to be responsible and not sell substances that hurt young kids or people in recovery trying to better their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ordinance cites an increase in emergency room visits, impaired driving incidents and polysubstance use in Scranton associated with products marketed as \u201cKratom,\u201d \u201cK,\u201d \u201cMaeng Da,\u201d \u201cRed Bali,\u201d \u201cWhite Thai,\u201d \u201cUltra Enhanced Kratom,\u201d \u201cOPMS,\u201d \u201cExtract Shots\u201d and other branded or synthesized derivatives frequently sold in concentrated, adulterated or chemically modified forms not traditionally associated with raw botanical material.<\/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 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
Kratom products sold in stores include forms of vapes, powders and capsules. Kratom 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
\u201cMany stores are selling highly concentrated extracts and liquid shots that contain extremely strong doses,\u201d Flynn said. \u201cAs a city, we have a responsibility to get ahead of problems before they become full-blown crises. We\u2019ve seen what happens when dangerous substances take hold in communities. We\u2019ve lived through the devastation of the opioid epidemic and we\u2019ve lived through the crisis that bath salts became \u2014 we\u2019ve lost far too many neighbors, friends and family members. We can\u2019t afford to ignore warning signs when they begin to appear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kratom\u2019s two main chemical components are mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH-mitragynine), according to the FDA.<\/p>\n
It took a group effort to made the ordinance a reality, Flynn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first came to (council President Tom Schuster and Solicitor Tom Gilbride) with the idea of pursuing a ban on kratom, they were immediately supportive,\u201d he said. \u201cThey, along with District Attorney Gallagher and Mr. Van Wie, helped work through the legal framework and moved this concept from an idea into the legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Flynn believes banning kratom in Scranton would be a good starting point, he\u2019s calling on representatives from other municipalities to follow the city\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just a challenge for one city; the sale of kratom will not stop at our municipal borders,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we want to truly protect our communities, we need to work together. I\u2019m calling on leaders of municipalities across our region \u2014 mayors, council members, supervisors and commissioners \u2014 to join us in this effort by taking a close look at what is being sold in your communities and consider taking similar action. Until the state or federal government steps in and establishes clear rules around kratom, local communities have a responsibility to act.\u201d<\/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 \u2026 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 youth.\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
Gallagher noted the effects of kratom are becoming more evident in the area \u2014 including reports of its addictive properties and withdrawal symptoms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re encountering individuals under court supervision where it undermines rehabilitation and compliance with the terms of their probation,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had overdoses in Pennsylvania and we\u2019re responding to real instances in Scranton and Lackawanna County, including numerous emergency calls from parents whose teenagers have suffered the adverse medical reactions of products purchased openly at retail settings. It presents a legitimate, growing public safety concern and this ordinance is a direct response to that reality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 For Patrick Flynn, it\u2019s personal. Even before he was elected to Scranton City Council in November,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[5871,990,28396,72083,72084,201,571,72085,71990,178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-159500","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-joseph-van-wie","13":"tag-lackawanna-county","14":"tag-lackawanna-county-courthouse","15":"tag-opioid-withdrawal","16":"tag-patrick-flynn","17":"tag-scranton","18":"tag-scranton-headlines","19":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159500","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=159500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159500\/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=159500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}