State officials are warning Iowans not to buy a product called kratom that’s being sold in some Iowa convenience stores and gas stations as well as shops that sell cigarettes or vapes.
Leaves from a kratom plant are crushed to make an organic version and Governor Kim Reynolds said some synthetic versions of kratom are 46 times as powerful as morphine. “The number of deaths caused by kratom is rising at a very disturbing rate,” Reynolds said during a news conference at the headquarters of the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
State officials report in the first seven months of this year, there have been 16 kratom-related deaths in Iowa. “We’re at a point where we can’t ignore this issue any longer,” Reynolds said.
Last Tuesday, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency classified three synthetic kratom derivatives as illegal drugs and three days later an undercover agent bought the illegal products in an Iowa store at a discounted price. Iowa Public Safety Commissioner Stephen Bayens told reporters ignorance of the law is not a defense and retailers should yank the products from their shelves. “Some…call it ‘gas station heroin,'” Bayens said. “These products are openly sold next to snacks and canned drinks and can easily be confused for candy. The dangers posed by kratom products affect large metropolitan areas and small communities alike. Within the last two weeks alone a small community in western Iowa had two kratom related overdoses in a single weekend, one of which was a juvenile.”
It’s not just the synthetic versions of kratom that are a concern. Dr. Robert Kruse, the state’s Medical Director, said one of this year’s kratom-related fatalties was a person who took the organic version of kratom. “The most important message is simple: availability does not equal safety,” Kruze said. “Kratom contains compounds that act on opioid receptors in the brain.”
In March, the Iowa House passed a bill to ban the sale of kratom, but the Senate never debated it. Governor Kim Reynolds said she supported and “advocated for” the ban and hopes lawmakers approve it next year. “You’re seeing states across the country moving in that direction,” Reynolds said. “We now have 12 states that have outlawed kratom and I hope Iowa will soon follow in those footsteps.”
The state will launch a public relations campaign in October with warnings about kratom and share information with Iowans about where they can go to get help. The effort will be targeted to men, as data shows it’s primarily men who are overdosing on kratom.