TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas – While Travis County has seen a decline in the numbers of fentanyl poisoning deaths, it’s seen an increase in unknown opioids posing a risk to the community.
By the numbers:
A new city memo reveals opioid-related deaths in Travis County are down 35%.
Officials credit expanded naloxone distribution and community harm reduction investments for the decline, but Austin-Travis County EMS data points to another emerging threat.
“We have seen an increase in unknown opioids that are causing non-fatal and fatal deaths in our county,” said Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County Health Authority.
Emerging threat
What they’re saying:
Austin Public Health says a potent opioid-like compound associated with Kratom is cause for concern. Kratom is derived from a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia and is sometimes marketed as a natural remedy for pain, anxiety, and opioid withdrawal. Kratom is legal to purchase and can be found at gas stations, convenience stores, smoke shops, and online retailers.
“The kratom products when they are produced can be candies, snacks, gummies,” Dr. Walkes said.
Health officials say what is inside some of these products is raising the biggest concern.
“Kratom itself has a chemical in it, Mitragynine, which can be changed with chemical processes to something that’s more potent called 7-OH,” Dr. Walkes explained. “And that is the chemical that’s concerning because it is a more potent chemical and it is a semi-synthetic opioid.”
Concentrated 7-OH products can cause dependence, serious health complications, and potentially life-threatening overdoses. Some lab studies show 7-OH can be substantially more potent than morphine under certain conditions.
“Because kratom is a semi-synthetic opioid, it can cause an opioid-like overdose that if it’s used in combination with other drugs can require more Narcan, the drug that’s used to reverse overdoses, to be needed in order to save lives and reverse that overdose,” Dr. Walkes warned.
Big picture view:
The concerns aren’t just local.
Last month, two University of Mississippi students were found dead, and police said packaged kratom from a retail store was found during the investigation.
Texas law caps 7-OH levels in kratom at 2 percent and bans sales to minors. At the federal level, regulators announced emergency scheduling targeting concentration thresholds.
“What the federal government and the Drug Enforcement Administration is doing is looking at the differences between those two compounds and limiting the amount that can be available in a product,” Dr. Walkes said. “What that will do is that will give the legal means to define how much of that drug is available over the counter,” Dr. Walkes explained .
What you can do:
Austin Public Health urges everyone to read product labels carefully, keep them out of reach of children, and never combine these products with alcohol or other drugs.
The Source: Information in this report comes from reporting/interviews by FOX 7 Austin’s Jenna King.