2-Regulating Kratum - A Visit to Woolaroc

Tell me what got you started on this Kratom situation.

So we have a lot of, I mean, I have a lot of constituents that's reached out over the past several months.

It's, you know, pertaining to overdoses in their family and just addition to the, you to the creative itself.

And with my background in law enforcement, I started looking into it and started working with the chief medical examiner's office and Bureau of narcotics and started identifying that, you know, even after we passed legislation, um, that went into effect in November that we're still seeing overdose deaths.

Um, and then, you know, using my background going into convenience stores, still seeing that a lot of it's on the shelves and, um, you know, that it's not, it's just wide open market.

And with over 70 overdose deaths this year, it just caught my attention that, you know, hey, we still have Oklahomans dying and that we need to, we need to do something to protect Oklahomans and not just Oklahomans, but our youth as well.

Now, it is advertised as natural and non-addictive.

What do you say about that?

That's a lie.

So, you know, I mean, I've talked to Dozens upon dozens of people who say it's the worst addiction that they've had.

I've talked to several rehabilitation places that see people with kratom addiction.

It's the worst addiction they've had.

So if you want to talk about kratom itself, then that's one thing.

But what we're seeing is we're seeing products that are sold as kratom that are containing synthetic opioids or synthetic alkaloids.

And those synthetic alkaloids are acting as opioids, you know, that they're acting the same way.

They're reducing pain.

They're doing things that, you know, people are saying is helping them.

But in the same token, we're having all these synthetic compounds that are being mixed in that, you know, people are still overdosing from.

And You know, they say that, you know, the withdrawals are worse than the opioid withdrawals.

They say that it's worse than heroin.

But at what point does what we want to call a natural, you know, a natural substance become a drug?

Yeah, I've heard of people actually needing Suboxone to get off of Kratom.

That's correct.

Now, what are you seeing as far as behavior wise? What is this, the synthetic part of it and the increase in the amount? What is that doing to people?

You know, so I've got several instances where people, you know, have psychiatric outbursts.

Tell me what got you started on this Kratom situation.

So we have a lot of, I mean, I have a lot of constituents that's reached out over the past several months.

It's, you know, pertaining to overdoses in their family and just addition to the, you to the creative itself.

And with my background in law enforcement, I started looking into it and started working with the chief medical examiner's office and Bureau of narcotics and started identifying that, you know, even after we passed legislation, um, that went into effect in November that we're still seeing overdose deaths.

Um, and then, you know, using my background going into convenience stores, still seeing that a lot of it's on the shelves and, um, you know, that it's not, it's just wide open market.

And with over 70 overdose deaths this year, it just caught my attention that, you know, hey, we still have Oklahomans dying and that we need to, we need to do something to protect Oklahomans and not just Oklahomans, but our youth as well.

Now, it is advertised as natural and non-addictive.

What do you say about that?

That's a lie.

So, you know, I mean, I've talked to Dozens upon dozens of people who say it's the worst addiction that they've had.

I've talked to several rehabilitation places that see people with kratom addiction.

It's the worst addiction they've had.

So if you want to talk about kratom itself, then that's one thing.

But what we're seeing is we're seeing products that are sold as kratom that are containing synthetic opioids or synthetic alkaloids.

And those synthetic alkaloids are acting as opioids, you know, that they're acting the same way.

They're reducing pain.

They're doing things that, you know, people are saying is helping them.

But in the same token, we're having all these synthetic compounds that are being mixed in that, you know, people are still overdosing from.

And You know, they say that, you know, the withdrawals are worse than the opioid withdrawals.

They say that it's worse than heroin.

But at what point does what we want to call a natural, you know, a natural substance become a drug?

Yeah, I've heard of people actually needing Suboxone to get off of Kratom.

That's correct.

Now, what are you seeing as far as behavior wise? What is this, the synthetic part of it and the increase in the amount? What is that doing to people?

You know, so I've got several instances where people, you know, have psychiatric outbursts.