ATLANTA, Ga. — The House Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Youth Exposure to Kratom and Retail Available Substances met Wednesday to discuss Kratom.
The tree leaves when consumed in small amounts can act as a stimulant and a sedative in large amounts.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Lawmakers, law enforcement and medical experts met at the Georgia capital to talk about the controversial product sold at convenience stores and smoke shops.
Some lawmakers tried to outlaw Kratom four years ago, but the proposal failed. Under current law, no one under the age of 21 can purchase the product and it must in an area only accessible by employee.
“Today patients that I’m testing, all of them recently addicted in past five or six years, it’s kratom that cause[s] their addiction,” Anthony Kolodny, Medical Director at the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University’s school for social policy and management, said.
Kratom can be deadly.
Channel 2 Action News previously reported on Kratom in May when the DeKalb County Medical Examiners office became the latest county to add Kratom to its autopsy reports.
Melina Azzouz lost her cousin to the product.
“She ended up overdosing like in public, like in front of her kids,” she said. “It was terrible.”
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]