ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The City of Albuquerque is backing the FDA’s decision to ban Kratom sales. Kratom is a substance in the form of a beverage, pill, or powder that has been sold across the country.
Bottled drinks with the substance have been sold at gas stations and smoke shops in various marketing efforts. Some have been marketed for energy, and others for relaxation. The most common label seen in Albuquerque has been a blue bottle labeled ‘Feel Free.’ All of which are now banned in the city.
“The effects of it in its traditional sense is somewhere between an opioid and a stimulant,” Albuquerque Environmental Health Deputy Director Mark DiMenna said.
Some say Kratom is being used by former heroin or fentanyl addicts as an alternative. Some use it for energy, relaxation, or purity of thought.
“It’s plant-based and can be pulled out, concentrated, packaged, and sold in all kinds of different ways,” DiMenna said. “Like liquids, tinctures, tablets, and powders. Typically, it’s added to a food or beverage.”
The FDA recently released definitive guidelines indicating the substance is not considered safe for consumption. In response to that, the city sent out notices to all businesses with permits, indicating that anything containing Kratom should be removed from shelves.
“Once it has that designation, it means it can’t be used as a food or food additive,” DiMenna said. “Which is the way most people are taking it.”
Now, health inspectors are visiting those businesses and enforcing those guidelines. Whether that’s telling them for the first time to remove the substance, or issuing fines if they’ve already been notified and they’re still carrying the drink.
The concern is the regulation. Right now, there is none. So children can buy it, and it has psychoactive properties.
“There aren’t any regulations that currently dictate what the proper dosage should be or who can buy it or under what conditions they can buy it,” DiMenna said.
Dizzie Locs works at 1 Up Dispensary. Although they’ve never sold it at his store, he’s seen it on shelves.
“I’ve seen it in smoke shops, gas stations,” Locs said. “Sometimes it’s right there by the register.”
The city’s Environmental Health Department says it’s unlikely Kratom itself is the problem, but it’s the dosage, regulatory factors, and what’s being mixed with it. “It’s unlikely that Kratom itself is that big of a problem if it were better regulated,” DiMenna said. “So we’re not necessarily looking for a long-term prohibition if we could find a way to better regulate it so labeling and manufacturing standards are met better.”
DiMenna said people are experiencing lasting side effects and developing medical conditions from its use. “There aren’t dosage guidelines for people, so they end up taking far too much,” DiMenna said. “Nationally, there are lots of reports of people who have had overdoses, sometimes fatal overdoses from this.”
City health officials have been making sweeps to inform shops to take the substance off their shelves. If they’ve already been informed, then penalties are enforced. For now, the substance is being embargoed while further research is done to determine regulation.
The fine starts at $250 and can go up to $1,000 per day for every day the business defies health orders and keeps the product on the shelf.
