City study session hears drug-awareness briefing on kratom, nootropics, whippets and other youth-targeted products

John Holbrook, safety and security director at Renton School District, told a Shelton City Council study session on Feb. 11 that a growing number of legal or loosely regulated products are being used by teenagers and young adults and that some have been tied to hospitalizations and deaths.

"This is killing people," Holbrook said during his roughly 50-minute presentation, citing a Washington Post review that he said linked kratom to almost 4,200 overdose deaths nationally from 2020 to 2022 and two recent high-profile deaths in Cowlitz County that led to a lawsuit against a manufacturer.

Holbrook described a broad set of substances often marketed as dietary supplements or sold as novel hemp- or plant-derived products — kratom, the synthetic nootropic known as TNF (sometimes called Zaza), Finibet, kava, hemp-derived HHC, magic and Amanita mushrooms, Datura, high-dose THC drinks and nitrous-oxide cartridges known as whippets. He said many of those products are available in convenience stores or online and are promoted through social-media platforms and encrypted messaging channels such as Telegram.

The pr…