Kansas City convenience stores will no longer be able to sell so-called “gas station drugs” under new rules approved Thursday by the City Council.
The ban covers chemical inhalants like nitrous oxide, often called whippets, nitrate poppers and synthetic kratom products.
Unadulterated kratom comes from a Southeast Asian tree leaf and is often taken for pain relief and energy enhancement. But a derivative, called 7-OH, is synthesized into an alkaloid found in kratom. The result is much more potent than the natural product and critics say it is much more dangerous.
These synthetic products are often advertised as a quick energy boost, and exist in a legal gray area with little regulation. That means kids and teenagers can sometimes purchase them at gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops with little hassle.
“This is common sense and will be preventing a lot of harm to public health, getting that synthetic 7-OH off the shelf,” said 1st District Council member Nathan Willett Thursday afternoon. “There are tons of people looking to Kansas City as they are challenged with some of these gas station drugs.”
The ordinance was approved unanimously and with little debate, in contrast to nearly two hours of testimony at a committee hearing Tuesday.
Proponents of the ban say it’s a science-based and community-informed approach to protecting public health. But opponents backed synthetic kratom’s medicinal properties, noting many people self-prescribe it to treat anxiety, depression and opioid withdrawal.
Jeff Smith, the national policy director for Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust, a group that supports 7-OH products, agreed with many provisions of the measure, told the committee a blanket ban would harm some.
“Those people, in many cases, are using 7-OH products as an off-ramp from much more harmful substances like heroin or fentanyl,” Smith said.
Ultimately, City Council members said the purported health benefits did not outweigh the risk of addiction and negative health outcomes created by a lack of regulations.
The rules still allow for natural kratom leaf or kratom leaf extract, but sales would be limited to people 21 years or older. To sell these products, retailers will need to apply for a license and pay fees. The Council committee meeting earlier this week resulted in one key change to the law: removing jail time as a penalty for noncompliance. Violators are still subject to fines up to $1,000.
The new ordinance also changes the way these products can be displayed — another effort to curb teenage consumption.
In a statement last year, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said, “the products are marketed as legal alternatives but often just as dangerous as controlled substances and have no place on our shelves when they contribute to addiction, overdoses, and neighborhood instability, particularly impacting our children.”
Weighing benefits and uncertainty
Opinions on the merits of synthetic kratom products are split. On one side, concerned residents worry about a crisis akin to opioids if the products are left unregulated. On the other, 7-OH lobbyists, users and some medical experts believe the benefits outweigh the risks.
Phillip Gau, an adjunct professor in the University of Kansas Department of Biosciences, said the ordinance was either evil, ignorant, or both, for taking away a largely natural substance that has benefits.
According to Gau, up to 30% of natural kratom users consume is converted to 7-OH by their liver.
“Are you going to chop off your liver to prevent 7-OH? No,” he said.
Gau noted he is a founder and owner of a biomedicine company and said he takes the products himself. He also cautioned city officials against associating synthetic products with something that is unnatural or bad.
“Insulin is synthetic, think about that,” Gau said during committee testimony.
Keanu Carson, a Kansas City resident with autism and severe anxiety, spoke glowingly about kratom and 7-OH products.
“They allowed me to leave the house by feeling happy and good emotions, something I’m not accustomed to,” Carson said. “I see where the ordinance is coming from but we should focus on harm prevention, not a nanny-state option.”
Many of the products’ packaging states they are for people 21 years and older, which Carson said would be a more reasonable approach to regulation, rather than an outright ban.
Laura Bruce, a prevention specialist at Beacon Mental Health, told a City Council committee Tuesday that age restrictions are a good idea for some products, but they need to be well-understood, like for alcohol.
“Kratom contains opioid-like compounds, has widely variable potency, and the product changes faster than our laws can keep up with,” she said. “It’s hard to regulate addictive projects. It’s best if we keep it out of people’s hands.”
Bruce said, based on her conversations with local convenience stores, demand for kratom is high, and growing fast.
Resident health counselor Jessica Russo said she works with people who often seek natural means to treat their pain and other symptoms, some of whom are turning to kratom. She said there are likely possible health benefits to unadulterated kratom, but that there is more to the story with the synthetic offshoots.
“You have an entire population of well-intentioned people who are becoming addicted to a plant that is entirely legal and without regulation,” Russo said.
Kansas City isn’t the only area municipality targeting these easily accessible products. Earlier this week, Independence lawmakers began consideration of a similar ban on kratom derivatives like 7-OH and pseudoindoxyl, a more powerful variant.
If approved, violators would face a $500 fine or a sentence of up to 6 months in jail.
“Synthetic kratom has been a problem across the country,” outgoing Independence Mayor Rory Rowland, who sponsored the bill, said during the opening conversation. “People have died because of using it.”
