Staff and Wire Reports

Panola County law enforcement officials have not yet had reports or problems associated with the use of a herbal extract that some counties in North Mississippi are trying to get banned.

Capt. Gray Nickles, of the Panola County Narcotics Task Force, said he and others will get on board with efforts to outlaw the sale and use of kratom if it becomes a problem locally.

“That’s the problem with these kinds of things that we don’t really know about because people are ordering them online from other countries,” he said. “We have to find out what we are dealing with.”

Northeast Mississippi is leading the state in criminalizing the possession and sale of kratom, a legal but unregulated herbal product. Nationally, efforts are underway to have the

The substance is banned in six states, but bills to make it illegal statewide failed this year in the Mississippi Legislature.

A total of 28 counties and cities, all in that part of the state, have made possession or sale a misdemeanor, urged on by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and a Columbus-area anti-kratom group.

“Through communications with community leaders and their local elected officials, the effort to ban kratom took flight,” said bureau Director John Dowdy, who said anti-kratom efforts are likely to expand to other parts of the state.

Supporters of kratom say it provides safe, non-addictive pain relief and can also combat anxiety disorders. Some kratom users also say it manages the withdrawal symptoms of potent opiate drugs.

Law enforcement, however, has described kratom as addictive and dangerous.

A spokesman for the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics said the agency believes kratom is linked to 12 deaths in the state, in the following counties: Covington, DeSoto, Hinds, Lafayette, Lamar, Lee, Perry, Pontotoc, Stone and Union. Most of the deaths MBN claims as kratom-linked also involved other drugs.

In an advisory, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned that “kratom, which affects the same opioid brain receptors as morphine, appears to have properties that expose users to the risks of addiction, abuse and dependence.”

In the face of bans sweeping the largely rural Northeast Mississippi, kratom users have touted its benefits. Many who use kratom do not oppose some regulations, especially for minors.