STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Sterling Heights has banned the sale and distribution of kratom — both natural and synthetic forms — making it illegal to sell the herbal supplement within city limits.
Watch Evan Sery's video report:
The Sterling Heights City Council voted to pass the kratom ordinance last week, with six council members voting in favor. The ban takes effect in early June. Businesses that continue selling kratom after that date could face serious consequences.
"If they are not compliant, they have the potential of having their business license revoked," Sterling Heights Police Lt. Lamar Kashat said.
Kashat said the department has seen a rise in kratom-related hospitalizations and crime.
"A possible breaking and entering into an area, and that individual indicated it was to feed their kratom addiction," Kashat said.
City Councilman Henry Yanez, one of the six who voted yes, said the city felt compelled to act.
"The state hasn't done anything to control it. We drew a line here in Sterling Heights to make sure we're going to keep the people who live here safe," Yanez said.
Yanez acknowledged residents who want to purchase kratom still have options.
"If people wanna buy kratom, whether natural or synthetic, they can go ahead and go to any other city around us; they just can't buy it here," Yanez said.
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Not everyone supports the ban. Melody Wolf, who lives in Kalamazoo, drove to last week's council meeting to speak against it. Wolf said she has relied on kratom for chronic pain relief.
"I've been a daily 12-year consumer of kratom," Wolf said.
Allison Smith, a government affairs director for the Global Kratom Coalition, flew in from Washington, D.C., to address the council. Smith argued that the natural form of kratom is not the problem — the synthetic version is.
"Concentrated synthetic 7OH, these synthetic drugs you're seeing at gas stations and convenience stores, are adulterated and represent a clear and present danger; people are getting addicted and overdosing on them," Smith said.
But Josh Barnes, a recovering kratom addict I met at the city's Dodge Park, said he is grateful Sterling Heights is taking action.
"These 7-hydroxy pressed pills - that is gas station heroin. It's addictive, and you'll get sick," Barnes said.
Barnes said he began using kratom to help deal with an injury he sustained while serving in the Navy. At the height of his addiction, he said he was spending $200 a day to feed it.
"It should be illegal, should be illegal, no one should be able to sell that," Barnes said.
The debate is also playing out at the state level. House Bill 5537, which proposes a statewide ban on growing and selling kratom, passed in the Michigan House and is currently sitting in the Senate.
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