Kratom, a plant-based substance with opioid-like effects, is legal in Florida and can be purchased over the counter at gas stations, smoke shops and other retailers.
But law enforcement officials and medical professionals are raising concerns about the drug, including more potent forms that have been linked to deadly overdoses.
For Edward Valykeo, the issue is personal.
Valykeo remembers calling 911 from his Williston home after his longtime girlfriend and the mother of his 12-year-old daughter, 43-year-old Kristie Dijak, was found unresponsive.
Paramedics pronounced her dead.
Valykeo said her cause of death was a kratom 7-OH overdose. 7-hydroxymitragynine, commonly known as 7-OH, is a more potent compound associated with kratom. It is currently outlawed in Florida.
“Seeing my daughter struggle with this. It just tears me up daily,” Valykeo said.
Rehabilitation medicine physician Charles Smith described kratom as “gas station heroin” because of where the substance is commonly sold.
Smith also said he treats patients with kratom addictions the same as he does those addiction to heroin.
“This isn’t bubble gum off the shelves,” Smith said.
Florida law allows people 21 and older to purchase kratom products. News 6 visited an Orlando smoke shop with an employee’s permission and recorded kratom tablets being sold, including packaging that identified the product’s potency.
Employees at several smoke shops told News 6 they did not want to appear on camera. One employee said he routinely warns customers about kratom’s opioid-like effects and its potential for addiction.
Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said he is particularly concerned about high-dose forms of kratom and the potential dangers when the substance is combined with other drugs.
“The idea that surely the government and society would not allow something to sit on the shelf if it was going to do us harm. I think has been tested over and over again to be absolutely not true,” Lemma said.
Lemma is urging the Florida Legislature to outlaw kratom.
He said he believes state leaders could address the issue if lawmakers and the governor make it a priority.
The push comes as officials continue to debate how kratom should be regulated and what restrictions, if any, should be placed on its sale.
