Batavia residents oppose ban of Kratom, Delta-8, other synthetic drug sales

Batavia residents and business owners made their voices heard in opposition to the proposed prohibition of kratom, THC and CBD derivatives, and other synthetic drug sales.

City Council members discussed amending city code to prohibit the sales of Kratom, Synthetic Cannabinoids, Tetrahydrocannabinol Products, and other Synthetic and Psychoactive Drugs within city limits at the Jan. 28 Committee of the Whole meeting.

The ordinance was proposed by Police Chief Eric Blowers.

“These products are a danger to public health and may cause hallucination, vomiting, tremors, anxiety, dizziness, confusion, erratic behavior, aggression, suicidal ideation, psychosis and loss of consciousness, agitation, nausea, tachycardia, elevated blood pressure, seizures, psychotic episodes, increased heart rate, panic attacks, paranoid behavior and nonresponsiveness as well as negatively affecting cognitive functioning and even possibly causing death,” Blowers wrote in a corresponding memo.

At the meeting, Blowers cited a 2021 fatal traffic crash involving a school bus full of children in which the driver responsible tested positive for kratom, among other substances.

Blowers said nine stores in Batavia currently sell these types of products. He said while the sale of these products is legal due to a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill, they create enforcement concerns, are not age restricted, are marketed to young people and are often found to be labeled incorrectly.

The proposed ordinance would prohibit the sale of these products at all stores within city limits and impose fines of up to $500 per day for businesses in violation of those provisions.

Several council members had reservations about the ban from the start, and tabled the item after hearing nearly an hour of public comment from five residents, several of whom were local merchants of CBD and kratom products.

The ordinance was tabled in an unanimous voice vote.

“I don’t even know how we’re going to enforce this,” Alderman Alan Wolff said. “We don’t have the resources available to us to go out and test the products...There’s no way for us to do that and I don’t think that’s something that we should be putting on our police department.”

Owner of local wellness store Urban Apothecary Cheryl Cryer spoke for about 30 minutes, defending her right to sell CBD products. She had over 100 letters from her customers and colleagues stating their opposition to the ordinance.

Cryer said grouping full-spectrum CBD products in with the extracts found at convenience stores and gas stations is dangerous and unfair to reputable retailers.

Batavia kratom Distributor Brent King compared whole-leaf kratom products to poppy seeds- perfectly healthy in their natural form, but can be synthesized and extracted to make heroin. He said while many of the extracted Kratom and synthetic THC products are dangerous, the proposed ordinance casts ”too broad of a net.”