TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – Toledo City Council moved to ban the sale of kratom on Wednesday. The legislation that passed bans sales of kratom in the synthetic form, but allows for the sale of the natural leaf.
The vote comes just weeks after the local health department issued a public health notice about kratom.
They said kratom is often marketed as a natural remedy for pain, anxiety or fatigue, but carries significant health risks and can act like an opioid. Products that include kratom may claim to produce a “natural high” or be marketed as an “energy booster,” but are misleading, the health department said.
Health experts have warned against kratom, linking it to serious health concerns.
“It behaves an awful lot like an opioid. You can become addicted to it; it can create detrimental side effects, seizures, liver damage. People do become addicted. We have neonatal outcomes from this too; babies are born addicted to it,” Amy Brown, a Registered Environmental Health Specialist with the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department previously told 13 Action News.
Council member Sam Melden previously told 13 Action News about his concerns with how easily accessible products containing Kratom can be.
“Most concerning, in my opinion, though, is not just what kratom can do to a user, but it is that it’s so easily available. These vape shops that are all over the community for it to have the word ‘kratom’ in the window advertising it, I don’t know what kind of safeguards are there. Who can go in and just buy that?” said Melden.
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This article was published by WTVG on 2025-11-05 17:35:00
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