Supervisors vote to ban kratom from stores in Lee Co.
LEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Lee County joins a growing list of municipalities that have banned kratom.
The Lee County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban the substance, often sold at gas stations, convenience stores, and vape shops.
While some use it to relieve pain, authorities say they are seeing more cases of overdoses involving kratom. Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson says the county’s decision follows a ban on kratom by the city of Tupelo a couple of weeks ago.
Sheriff Johnson says the ban will help protect people from an unregulated product.
“We have seen overdose deaths that have had significant amounts of kratom and other opioids and other things. It is not only to protect people involved in a situation like this, but also people taking it, who have no idea what they are putting in their system. It is not regulated by the FDA, it is not regulated by any pharmacy or anything. It is a foreign substance coming from another country, and it is just absolutely not safe,” said Sheriff Johnson.
The kratom ban goes into effect immediately, but the sheriff said there will be a grace period of about ten days. However, he encourages all stores to go ahead and remove all kratom products from their shelves.
