It is for sale in gas stations and other stores around Connecticut.
“Gas station heroin”, as the opioid is called, not kept out of sight under the counter. It requires no furtive inquiry. Kratom is legal, and can be lethal.
One of the most important meetings of the legislative session that began February 4 and ends May 6 will take place Tuesday. The bipartisan Legislative Review Committee will decide whether to approve regulations to ban kratom in Connecticut.
Kratom is derived from the leaves of a tree found in Southeast Asia. It is sold in its leaf form and in a more concentrated and lethal lab synthesized version. The leaf form is sold as capsules, powder and tea. The synthetic concentrated version, known as 7-OH, is many times more potent than the leaf-only type.
The Food and Drug Administration recommends adding 7-OH to the Schedule I list of drugs because it has, according to the agency, “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” The legislature last year voted to do that. The next step required the Department of Consumer Protection to draft regulations on kratom and six other substances, invite comments from the public, hold a public hearing, make any changes because of the comments and hearing, and send the completed regulations to the legislative committee for its approval or rejection. That will happen on Tuesday.
The law passed last year did not make a distinction between leaf-only kratom products and synthetic ones. The law passed the House 146-0 and the Senate 36-0. That has sparked opposition to the regulations and provides an evolving lesson on the far-flung interests in what looks like a straightforward public policy matter.
Kratom is an opioid. Fentanyl is the most dangerous illegal opioid and has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. President Donald Trump used our legitimate fears of fentanyl as a ruse for his destructive obsession to impose illegal tariffs on Canada, our neighbor, ally and important trade partner. Almost no fentanyl reaches the United States from Canada.
If the federal government cared about the availability and abuse of opioids, it would not allow kratom-based products to be widely available. One estimate concluded that 2% of opioid deaths in the United States can be attributed to synthetic kratom products. (The Supreme Court struck down the tariffs in a 6-3 decision Friday.)
Kratom-based products have been found to cause psychosis and liver damage. They can impede the lungs from functioning properly. When mixed with alcohol or some prescription drugs, those dangers can grow. Even if you do not ingest them in amounts that kill, opioids are addictive.
Addiction is another word for misery, for the addicted and the people who care about them. Or maybe strangers. Do we want to travel on roads with drivers taking an unregulated drug stronger than morphine? You do not know when but there are times you are sharing the road with drivers who get their drug advice from the cashier at a convenience store.
Kratom in any form is unregulated. The synthetic version has made its way into products that provide a masterclass in deceptive marketing. Synthetic kratom and other unregulated substances are marketed as energy drinks and popular snacks in packaging similar to well-know products, brand name cookies, and ice cream. It is diabolical. They can be purchased over the internet with no effective means of confirming a purchaser’s age.
Elected and appointed officials have heard from hundreds of people during the long process of banning kratom and other lethal unregulated controlled substances. Many of them shared their experiences of finding relief from anxiety and the effects of addiction to other substances.
There is a well-financed, tax-exempt trade organization working to magnify the claims that the leaf-only type is safe and comes only with benefits. The Mayo Clinic, in a 2024 article on kratom, wrote, some people “who use kratom report that at low doses, kratom acts as an upper, called a stimulant. That means it makes them more alert and gives them more energy. At higher doses, people who use it report that it reduces pain and makes them feel calm and less anxious, also called a sedative.”
What users cannot know is whether the kratom they are using is safe. “Kratom products have been found to have heavy metals, such as lead, and harmful germs, such as salmonella, in them,” the Mayo Clinic reported. “Salmonella poisoning can be fatal. The FDA has linked more than 35 deaths to salmonella-tainted kratom.”
We live at a time of deep fractures in public opinion. There ought to be some issues in which we enjoy a consensus. Unregulated access to opioids ought to be one of them. The dividing line between natural kratom and the synthetic type has created a wedge that divides where there ought to be unity against an unregulated opioid that can cause permanent damage to users. In most instances there are safe alternatives.
Tuesday at the legislature will provide an unanticipated test of whether the 14 members of the committee that acts on regulations–the only committee with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans–will act to ban the sale of opioids in gas stations, convenience stores, and smoke shops.
If they do as they should, this is not the end. The state needs to commit resources to enforcing the new rules and educating the public on the dangers of kratom and other lethal substances. That will take money–always the test of our leaders’ commitment to what they say they want to accomplish for the public good.
Of the hundreds of formal decisions legislators face each year, banning gas station heroin ought to be the easiest.
Reach Kevin Rennie at [email protected]