PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The state has put an emergency yearlong order on kratom products, and Pittsfield is working with retailers to remove the product from shelves. 

Last week, Director of Public Health Andy Cambi delivered an update on the emergency order that went into effect on August 28.  Also known by its chemical name and marketed with the term "7-OH," Massachusetts temporarily designated kratom as a Schedule I drug, greatly restricting sales. 

The formerly unregulated product has resulted in emergency room visits, poison control calls, and deaths.  

"Dependency and the opioid-like withdrawal symptoms are the major key health concerns," Cambi explained. "Liver toxicity, seizures, just a greater overdose risk when combined with other substances, and then the main thing is that this is not regulated."

He said that throughout the years, retail shops have reached out to the Health Department looking for guidance on kratom products and were notified that it is unregulated. 

"And for the most part, when they hear that, they don't sell the product," he added. 

Kratom is a leafy plant native to Southeast Asia containing naturally occurring substances, including mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH).  It is marketed to relieve pain and can produce stimulating or sedating effects, depending on the amount taken and potency. Newer products contain highly concentrated or laboratory-modified compounds that can have significantly stronger opioid-like effects. 

Kratom products have been widely sold in smoke shops, convenience stores, and gas stations as powders, tablets, capsules, gummies, dissolvable strips, and in other forms.