NASCSA Webinar – Kratom Update, From Powerful 7-OH and Pseudoindoxyl Extracts, Child Marketing, and Heavy Metals

Description: There are major changes in the kratom marketplace that has consumer implications. In this lecture we will discuss:

1. New products are flooding the market focusing on alkaloids that exist only in extremely small doses in kratom products like 7-hydroxmitragynine (‘7-OH or 7 products”) or not at all like mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, and have much stronger opioid effects and addiction potential.
2. Newer products that are being marketed in ways that attract children such as candy formulations (popping crystals, candy, sugary liquids, chocolate, ice cream cones, noobs), flavorings (strawberry, piscachio, vanilla, chocolate, mango) and mascots (hippo, hippie cartoon people) which could results in inadvertent exposure or use among children.
3. Recommendations that better defining what kratom is, the need to ban strong semisynthetic opioid products derived from mitragynine, preventing underage people (<21 years) from accessing the products, proper kratom labeling requirements, and the need to register products and provide proof of good manufacturing practices (including heavy metal contamination).

Speaker: C. Michael White, Pharm.D., FCP, FCCP, FASHP, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Pharmacy Practice, UConn School of Pharmacy, Storrs, CT