A contentious Kratom ban has been indefinitely deferred by the Iowa City City Council after months of discussion.
In previous meetings, councilors and attendees have been split in their opinions on the ban. Those against the ban said Kratom helps wane opioid addicts off opioids in a less painful way, while proponents pointed to the unregulated nature of the substance.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Kratom is an herbal substance that produces opioid-like effects. The Federal Drug Administration has not approved the substance for any medical use, and the Drug Enforcement Administration labeled the substance a drug of concern.
The City Council has been increasingly split in its last two votes on the ban. In the first vote, the lone dissenter of the ban was Councilor Megan Alter, with Councilors Andrew Dunn and Laura Bergus being absent from the meeting. In the second vote with the full council present, the ban proceeded with a 4-3 vote, with nays from Alter, Dunn, and Bergus.
Dunn was the reason this ban was put before the city council after he advocated for the city to take action on the unregulated substance. However, Dunn later told The Daily Iowan his stance had changed from an outright ban to an age limit restriction after hearing from those who use Kratom.
At Tuesday’s meeting, several attendees spoke out against the ban for the same reasons as in prior meetings. Andrea Weber, a local addiction physician and board chair of the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition, said a ban would not stop people from finding ways to continue using Kratom and would only create more barriers for those trying to overcome opioid addiction.
“Getting people to medical treatment still is a barrier,” Weber said. “We try more and more to get people to come in to see us instead of utilizing unregulated drug supplies, but it is really hard to do so for people.”
No attendees at Tuesday’s meeting spoke in favor of the ban.
All councilors indicated they would be sticking with the votes they cast at the second reading of the ban except for Mayor Bruce Teague. Teague, who supported the ban in the last two meetings, said balancing protecting public health with not overstepping as a council is difficult.
Many councilors said they would like to advocate the state and federal government place more regulations on Kratom. Teague said this topic would be a good one to add to the city council’s legislative priorities, which are typically determined at the end of each year.
The council voted 6-1 for the deferral, with Councilor Shawn Harmsen as the sole dissenter.
Teague said the city council does not want to demonize any users of Kratom or other drugs but that there needs to be action taken against Kratom.
“We acknowledge that [Kratom] has been helpful because we heard those words coming from people,” Teague said. “But we also know that there is something here that needs to be regulated, and there needs to be a lot of education after it has been regulated.”