Revere Board of Health Weighs Ban on Kratom Sales

By Barbara Taormina

The Board of Health held a public hearing on a proposed ordinance to ban the sale of kratom in Revere. Kratom comes from the leaves of a tropical evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia. People chew the leaves or crush and brew them into tea for pain relief and mood enhancement. In low doses, kratom can function as a stimulant, increasing energy, and in higher doses it acts as a sedative, helping users feel calmer and less anxious.

It has also been used for pain management, and some people have used kratom to ease opioid withdrawal symptoms. However, kratom’s effectiveness in reducing opioid cravings has not been thoroughly evaluated.

Director of Public Health Lauren Buck has warned that kratom products available in the United States are both synthetic and natural. Synthetic formulations produced in labs are more concentrated and potent than the natural leaf kratom used in traditional medicine in Southeast Asia. Buck said that in high amounts kratom, which is not approved nor regulated by the Federal Drug Administration, can be dangerous. She has talked about side effects: confusion, nausea, itching, sweating, dry mouth and constipation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, kratom is responsible for 91 deaths, and the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a public health advisory in 2017 that identified kratom as a drug of concern.

Claire Inzerillo, a policy writer with the city solicitor’s office, outlined three options the board had in relation to a kratom ordinance. Inzerillo said the board could do nothing and wait to see the result of three pending bills in the state legislature aimed at regulating kratom. The board could also approve a blanket ban on kratom sales. Inzerillo did stress that nothing was permanent and a ban could be changed if more studies and information supported a change. Inzerillo also described a third option, a 50/50 approach, which would ban the sale of synthetic kratom but would allow retailers to stock natural leaf kratom. However, she said enforcing this type of ban would be difficult because packaging is not always clear.

She said retailers would be notified of the ban ahead of its implementation. That grace period would give shops time to adjust to any disruption. There is also a fine schedule included in the ordinance for any business that fails to comply with a ban.

Board of Health Chair Dr. Drew Bunker opened the hearing to the public, but no residents spoke either in favor or against the ban on kratom. There were 15 letters to the board about the kratom ban. One was in favor of eliminating kratom in Revere, while 14 residents opposed the ban on kratom sales.

Allison Smith, the director of government affairs for the global kratom coalition, acknowledged there are serious issues with synthetic kratom that need to be addressed. However, she also said there have been thousands of studies on kratom and adverse effects are extremely rare. According to Smith, 23 million Americans use kratom safely.

Bunker said he had a family friend who recently died from a kratom overdose. Bunker said he assumed it was synthetic kratom. “At this point in time, we do not know the potency of kratom products. It is not FDA regulated. We need to do something. We need to act. Lives are at stake. No one from Revere has commented on the ban. No one is against kratom. If anything, we have proponents. But I cannot, in good conscience, allow kratom to be sold in Revere. Revere is our priority,” said Bunker.

Board members Kathleen Savage and Viviana Catano agreed Revere was their priority and the risks associated with synthetic kratom could not be ignored.

The board will vote on the proposed kratom ban at their next meeting, on June 26, with regular kratom users self-reporting using less than 6g of botanical kratom per consumption, per several recent studies. An estimated 1.7 million Americans aged 12 and older used kratom in 2021, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health.