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Spring Valley city council passes ordinance to ban sale and possession of kratom, other substances · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Spring Valley City Council passes ordinance to ban sale and possession of
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  Kratum, other substances. Written by Emily Beebe. This
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  article is being read by an automated voice, brought to you by
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  Everlit. Spring Valley is the latest town in the Illinois Valley to
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  ban Kratom, after towns such as Ottawa and Seneca have also banned
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  the drug. During the September eighth City Council meeting, the Spring Valley
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  City Council voted to pass an ordinance the sale and possession of
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  Kratom and other substances, despite Illinois state law allowing adults eighteen and
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  older to legally buy and possess Kratom. Spring Valley Police Chief Adam
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  Curren said There was no single event that drove the ban, but
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  instead it was based on how dangerous Kratom is. There was no
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  single event that happened in the community to specifically drive the ban.
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  That doesn't mean there aren't stories out there about how this has
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  affected individuals. This substance has known psychoactive and intoxicating effects, has been
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  linked to overdoses, and has qualities of an opioid, Curran
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  said We felt that kratom is a threat to the safety and
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  health of its residents, so an ordinance was enacted to ban the
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  substances: No one opposed it or spoke against it before it passed.
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  No arrests, charges, or citations have been made since. Curran said businesses
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  that had been selling Kratom were made aware of the new ordinance
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  and told to comply. The ordinance bans not just kratom, but three
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  additional substances: Kratum extract, sevenhydroxymitrigenine, sevenOH, and tihaneptine.
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  The FDA said on its website that 7OH is a potent alkaloid
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  found in trace amounts naturally in the Kratom plant, but is now
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  isolated and sold in standalone products such as tablets, shots and powders.
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  At high doses it produces classic opioid effects such as euphoria, sedation,
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  physical dependence, and respiratory depression. It is not approved by The FDA
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  for any medical use. Tyneptine is a synthetic compound marketed under names
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  like TNA, Zaza Red, or gas station heroin, according to the FDA.
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  In high doses, it acts as a full opioid, carrying risks of
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  severe addiction, respiratory depression, seizures, and overdoses. It.
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  Too, is not approved by the FDA for any use in the
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  United States. The agency has repeatedly warned against it. The ordinance defines
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  possession as both actual and constructive, meaning that people don't need to
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  be holding it. If a person has the intent and capacity to
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  maintain control over Kratum, Seven OH or Tyanneptine, then they are in
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  possession of it. A violation of the ordinance carries a fine of
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  100 to 750. Curin compared kratom to K2, which is a synthetic
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  substance. Several years ago K2 was a substance being sold in businesses
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  and was being promoted as a synthetic marijuana. There were many different
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  chemical compounds in K2 that have since been banned by the DEA.
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  Those compounds were being linked to dangerous side effects such as hallucinations,
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  violent behavior, rapid heart rate and high blood pressure, Curran said. An
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  an ordinance was created at that time to ban K2 that contained
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  certain chemical compounds. I have also first hand seen how the opioid
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  crisis affected our communities. If Kratom can act like an opioid but
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  is unregulated, I think that is a major problem.