Officer’s death intensifies scrutiny of herbal supplement

Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y.

Matt Dana was known around the Adirondack Mountain town where he grew up as a promising young police sergeant who worked hard to root out narcotics dealers. So it came as a shock to friends and co-workers when he died suddenly this summer and an autopsy attributed it to an overdose.

It wasn’t from drugs, but from kratom, an herbal supplement sold online and in convenience stores, gas stations and smoke shops.

“It was the talk of the town. People were upset it was reported as an overdose,” said Paul Maroun, mayor of Tupper Lake in the central Adirondacks 110 miles northwest of Albany. “It’s not an illegal drug.”

Made from the leaf of a Southeast Asian plant, kratom is touted as an energizer, potent pain reliever and tool to wean people with addictions off heroin and other opioids.

It’s also increasingly used recreationally, with users describing it as stimulating as coffee at low doses and producing a sense of relaxation and mild euphoria at higher doses.

Dana’s death has resonated far beyond Tupper Lake, striking fear among kratom advocates that it could be cited in an ongoing federal review to get it banned nationwide.

Six states ban kratom, and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency proposed a ban last year, citing 15 previous deaths from 2014 to 2016.

But that proposal was withdrawn after public opposition, including a letter signed by 62 members of Congress and a protest at the White House organized by the American Kratom Association.

Kratom is legal in Ohio.