Rens­selaer County weighs ban on kratom

Rens­selaer County could join a grow­ing num­ber of New York counties seek­ing to ban the sale of kratom, a plant-derived sub­stance with opioid-like effects that has become increas­ingly com­mon in con­veni­ence stores and tobacco shops as reports of kratom-related over­doses have surged.

David Carlucci, a former state sen­ator and lob­by­ist for the Amer­ican Kratom Asso­ci­ation, said 7-OH is “pois­on­ing the well of the kratom com­munity.” He poin­ted to state legis­la­tion that would ban products con­tain­ing high con­cen­tra­tions of it, allow­ing reg­u­lated sales of kratom.