{"id":160491,"date":"2026-04-08T14:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/160491\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:58:13","slug":"lawmakers-hold-public-reading-on-move-to-ban-kratom-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/160491\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers hold public reading on move to ban kratom products"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE\/WYOU) \u2014 Scranton lawmakers held a first public reading on Tuesday of a controversial move to ban kratom products in the Electric City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Several people who say they\u2019ve benefited from the pure version of kratom spoke out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They say it\u2019s not fair to lump the synthetic version of the over-the-counter substance with the naturally occurring chemical found in leaves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Food and Drug Administration has not approved kratom as a drug and warns that it poses serious risks to consumers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a class=\"link  yahoo-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/vietnam-veteran-honored-surprise-ceremony-014504699.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Vietnam veteran honored for service with surprise ceremony;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Vietnam veteran honored for service with surprise ceremony&quot;}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Vietnam veteran honored for service with surprise ceremony <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Many also worry that it produces opioid-like effects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Right now, kratom is readily available in gas stations and smoke shops.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It remains unregulated in Pennsylvania, and some stores prohibit selling to anyone under the age of 21.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The ordinance must undergo multiple readings by the Scranton City Council before it can be approved and signed into law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.2822news.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to 28\/22 News.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to 28\/22 News.&quot;}\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to 28\/22 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE\/WYOU) \u2014 Scranton lawmakers held a first public reading on Tuesday of a controversial move&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[17458,178,180,179,72474],"class_list":["post-160491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-food-and-drug-administration","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-synthetic-version"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160491","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=160491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}