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Doctor and Monterey County health official warn of increasingly potent kratom products sold locally
Summary
At a March 4 Monterey County news briefing, an addiction medicine physician and a county consumer‑protection supervisor warned that concentrated kratom extracts—especially 7‑hydroxymitragynine products—are increasingly potent, poorly labeled and pose risks of dependence and overdose; county staff said inspectors can document sales but lack authority to ban products absent other violations.
On March 4, at a Monterey County news briefing, Dr. Casey Grover, an addiction medicine physician with Montage Health, and Armando Gonzalez, supervisor of the consumer protection team at the Monterey County Environmental Health Bureau, warned that some kratom products sold at local smoke shops and gas stations are much more potent than traditional leaf preparations and are frequently labeled without opioid‑risk warnings.
Dr. Grover described kratom (mitragyna speciosa) as a plant with alkaloids that can act like an opioid and a stimulant. He said newer products and extracts concentrate a compound called 7‑hydroxymitragynine, which he called “more potent at the opiate receptor…than morphine,” and that those concentrated products are being marketed as…
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