Bartlett trustees delay vote on banning kratom products
Public input at Tuesday night’s village board meeting led Bartlett trustees to delay voting on a proposed kratom ban while they conduct more research on the drug.
Nine speakers, most attending from out-of-state via Zoom, attested to the health benefits of naturally derived kratom, while blaming an influx of enhanced synthetic derivatives for the dangerous reputation it has acquired.
Trustees could decide they have everything they need to make a decision at their next meeting on Oct. 20.
Police Chief Ryan Conway proposed the ban on the advertisement and sale of kratom and related synthetic drugs as well as recreational-use nitrous oxide.
He said he based the recommendation on documented incidents of misuse and a concern for the health effects on young people often targeted by marketing efforts.
“We’re seeing that the marketing is way too fast for us to regulate,” Conway said. “This is a strong ordinance that protects us from all future derivatives.”
No one disputed the proposed ban on the sale of recreational-use nitrous oxide during the meeting.
Village President Dan Gunsteen is a strong advocate for the bans, saying the state’s lack of regulation is leaving municipalities with the responsibility.
“If the state of Illinois had done their job, we wouldn’t be here today,” he said. “The access our youth has to it is insane.”
The minimum age to buy kratom products is 18. Only one of the 14 retailers that carry them in Bartlett failed a recent compliance check for sales to anyone underage.
Gunsteen and Conway emphasized that it’s only the sale of kratom that would be banned, not the possession or use of it.
Other suburbs that have imposed similar bans include Antioch, Batavia, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Lake Zurich, Mount Prospect, Naperville and Wheaton.
Craig Katz, the government relations and compliance manager for kratom wholesaler MNG Brands, also blamed the creation of enhanced derivatives for a bad reputation of natural kratom, which comes from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree.
“We do not want synthetics in the marketplace,” Katz said. “That’s not what we sell. Natural leaf kratom is none of that.”
People who’ve benefited from kratom’s medicinal effects are often reluctant to testify about it publicly due to a stigma that’s developed, he added.
Trustee Ray Deyne said he was ready to move forward on the ban, but other trustees suggested more research would improve their knowledge of the issue.
Katz said he hopes the additional two weeks will show trustees the vast difference between natural kratom and dangerously enhanced substances ― a difference he believes a local ordinance can accommodate.
But Conway said he hopes trustees gain a better understanding of the health threat posed and the difficulty law enforcement faces against a drug product that thrives through constant reinvention.
epeterson@dailyherald.com