Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
LOWELL, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Lowell Board of Health passed a ban on the plant product kratom during their December 4th meeting, and smoke shops in the area weren’t thrilled by the decision.
Kratom is harvested from the leaves of a tree of the same name in Southeast Asia. It can be smoked, used in teas and made into medicines for energy and pain relief; but it is also sold in seltzers, gummies and in capsule form.
According to the Lowell Board of Health, the ban was enacted due to the lack of federal regulation in the manufacturing, sale, and distribution of the drug.
“There’s no regulation on potency levels…if they’re saying there’s 100 milligrams, there are no guidelines that say that’s actually in there,” member of the board Erin Gendron said. “There’s no guidelines to control whether or not there’s heavy metals or other products that can be put into what’s being sold.”
She added that the drug has been fatal, which was part of the push to get it out of smoke shops.
“We had a person who actually lost their son to kratom toxicity,” Gendron said. “That person was over 21 years old…they were 25.”
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Store manager of 2 Brothers Smoke and Vape Nelson Ferrer talked about how this ban will impact those who use kratom to move away from harder drugs.
“As an ex-addict, I see people who are heroin users, they come in and they start using kratom,” Ferrer said. “I see them fade away from the heroin and stick with kratom, so I see a lot of positive.”
Ferrer has also been very vocal about how this will also negatively impact Lowell smoke shops monetarily.
“All this inventory here is gonna be trash, so that’s money down the drain and we don’t have that luxury,” Ferrer said. “Its money coming out of our pocket…we’re a mom and pop smoke shop.”
The ban will go into effect on January 2nd, although there will be a grace period for stores to comply.
WBZ NewsRadio's James Rojas (@JamesRojasMMJ) reports.