County Legislature approves kratom regulation

Suffolk County lawmakers last week unanimously voted to subject kratom products to greater regulations, but did not ban the substance outright like Nassau County did earlier this year.

The legislature approved a bill that would ban the manufacturing and selling of kratom products that contain “dangerous” substances other than kratom and synthesized kratom materials. The bill also requires third-party testing for all kratom products sold in the county.

With the legislature’s unanimous approval, the bill heads to Suffolk County executive Ed Romaine, who previously publicly supported such regulations in a letter to the state health commissioner.

According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, kratom products are derived from kratom tree leaves native to Southeast Asia, which are often used to treat conditions like pain, coughing, anxiety, depression, and opioid use disorder. However, the FDA also warns that the drug has serious adverse health effects, including liver toxicity and seizures, and can be addictive. In rare cases, kratom was found to have been used in combination with other drugs, resulting in death.

Kratom is not FDA-approved, and the agency advises against its use. Alkaloids that are found in synthesized products, which are sometimes sold in gas stations and convenience stores like mitragynine and 7-OH, have been referred to as “gas station heroine” by some, including legislators like Suffolk County Legislature presiding officer Anthony Piccirillo, due to them having similar effects on the brain as opioids.

An original version of the now-approved bill would have completely banned kratom in Suffolk County, as Nassau County previously did. But debate among kratom users and public health advocates ensued in numerous public hearings before the county legislature.

One Suffolk County resident, JoAnn Lynch, spoke at a June 23 hearing against a kratom ban because use of the drug as a powder in its pure leaf form had helped her deal with ulcerative colitis pain when painkillers prescribed by a doctor did not provide relief.

At that same hearing, Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the medical director for the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University, warned of the drug’s potential health risks and said that when he started treating opioid addiction 20 years ago, addiction started with drugs like prescription opioids and heroin. Today, Kolodny said that all of his patients who recently became opioid addicted became so due to taking kratom from powder capsules and extracts.

“Looking at the science is critical,” Kolodny said.

According to Kolodny, the general effects of kratom, like opioids, are short-lived, and that people can gain tolerance and even dependence on the drug if they take it daily.

The bill, along with banning synthesized versions of the drug that act more like opioids and kratom products with dangerous substances, also bans the use of kratom in people under 21 and requires laboratory testing. kratom products must not contain controlled substances and drugs like fentanyl, or any synthesized kratom material, according to the bill. The Suffolk County Department of Health will enforce the law, with penalties including a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year in prison.

“I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Barbara Vouris, prevention project coordinator at the Great South Bay Coalition, about the kratom regulation. “I just think that we still are going to have to make an effort in letting consumers know that there is still a danger that this cannot be mixed with any prescription medications.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul previously signed a bill requiring warning labels on kratom products, but Vouris said that more research is needed to determine the drug’s lasting negative impacts on people. In a perfect world for Vouris, a task force by the county or state department of health would look to create studies on lasting kratom use so public health advocates and lawmakers know what to do next.