The Maryland Department of Health is watching how illegal markets will react to the state banning a highly-addictive, opioid-like extract called 7-OH that comes from the kratom plant.
Officials at the Rapid Analysis of Drugs (RAD) are keeping an eye on if demand for the drug will emerge on the black market and the potential for other adulterants to be added to the drug.
“Typically, when substances are regulated, like the banning of 7-OH sales in Maryland, it causes dysregulation in the unregulated drug market,” they wrote in a quarterly newsletter on drug sampling. “We are continuing to monitor changes with kratom through RAD. We encourage you to carry naloxone since kratom has been seen in combination with fentanyl.”
Read more (and listen) at WYPR.
