La Quinta Leads Way in Regulating Kratom in Valley

Mayor Concerned About Health Risks of Kratom to Youth

LA QUINTA — This city is leading the Coachella Valley in regulating the use of kratom sales in the community, including age restrictions and limits on high-potency and synthetic products. The City Council has based its discussion on concerns about public safety and the broader opioid crisis, not prohibition.

The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously, 5-0, to approve the ordinance.

“La Quinta is a HEAL city — Healthy Eating Active Living.  Ensuring both an environment that promotes health and wellness and is safe —is a priority to the Council for our residents,” Mayor Linda Evans told Uken Report. “The ordinance passed regarding kratom is focused on people under 21 and the specific content of kratom in products.  While there is no FDA or medical approval of kratom, it has been known to cause opioid-like reactions.  We don’t need our youth accessing a substance that could serve as a gateway drug, similar to nicotine vape pens and e-cigarettes.   They cause health risks to our youth and can cause long-term impacts to brain function and overall mental health.”

At this time, the stores in La Quinta that carry kratom are compliant with the regulation in terms of the less than 2% 7-OH content, Evans said. “We hope to keep it that way.”

Highly concentrated and synthetic kratom-based products — marketed in the form of powders, capsules, gummies and ‘energy shots’ — have proliferated in the U.S,” according to a statement from the Riverside County Executive Office. “These products are commonly sold online, in smoke shops and at convenience stores, often with no quality control or labeling standards.”

7-OH, the psychoactive component of kratom leaves, is being synthetically concentrated into various products that are sold in gas stations, smoke shops, and other retail and online venues in the county, according to the California Narcotic Officers’ Association. High doses of concentrated synthetic 7-OH and/or co-used with alcohol or other sedatives can cause severe respiratory depression and death. As they are unregulated, many contain unknown concentrations synthetic 7-OH, increasing the risk of unintentional overdose.

“Parents need to pay attention to this growing issue,” Steve Sanchez, a La Quinta City Councilmember and candidate for Fourth District Riverside County Supervisor, said, “Most parents, and most kids, aren’t even aware this exists, and unfortunately some families only learn about it when it’s too late. No parent would ever assume that something purchased at a grocery store or a gas station counter could be deadly. Yet kratom is often sold in forms kids recognize and trust: gummies, flavored drinks, and similar products, with packaging that can look appealing or harmless to young people, making the risk easy to miss and access far too easy.”