BOH upholds Kratom fine

The Norwood Board of Health (BOH) met last week and went over several issues in the Town, most notably a hearing about the sale of Kratom.

Kratom is a strange substance. It acts as a mild stimulant in small doses, but in high doses, it can act much like an opioid. It can cause overdoses, and has been known to become nearly as addictive as opioids and have similar withdrawal symptoms – https://gvimes.link/krtmstdy

It has been fully legal in the United States, and has garnered the name “Gas Station Heroin” in that time. It is usually sold as an herbal supplement, but that’s been changing.

Massachusetts and the Town of Norwood both outlawed the sale of the substance earlier in the summer. The Town’s ordinance was reported in The Record’s legal notices and reporting – https://gvimes.link/krtmrcrd – and Assistant Health Director Abbie Atkins said emails were sent and reported as ‘opened’ by their email client to most establishments when the Town made it illegal back in July.

Atkins said she was on her way out of the subject of the hearing, Norwood Fuel Inc., doing business as Mobil, at 971 Providence Hwy., when she noticed an herbal drink that contained Kratom. She said she issued a fine of $500 then, and the owners of the establishment appealed.

“As I was leaving, I noticed there was a rack of a product called, ‘Feel Free’ right near the register,” she said. “It’s a drink, it looks like an energy drink and it doesn’t obviously look like it has Kratom in it if you look at it, but it’s like an ‘herbal infusion’ that also contains Kratom.”

Atikins said she informed the manager at the time, Assaad Nasr, that the product needed to be removed, which it was.

“But at that point, these regulations had been publicly announced in the newspapers and meetings multiple times, and I issued a $500 ticket as should be issued on the first offense,” she said.

Nasr said he has eight locations in several towns in Massachusetts, and he said they have had notifications from several of those municipalities’ health departments about banning Kratom, but hadn’t heard from Norwood.

“We were waiting to hear from you because we’re in the business and we heard it was going to be the whole state as well,” he said. “We were surprised in Walpole they gave us notice and a letter that we had until Aug. 28.”

BOH Chair Kathleen Bishop said she felt there was notice, and it was recorded as opened, as well as reported and noticed in the paper.

“You knew about it from other towns, and I don’t understand why you didn’t take the initiative yourself to find out what was going on,” she said.

Nasr asked to appeal the fine based on good past behavior, and that they were operating under the assumption that Norwood operated on the same timeline as other municipalities that they had heard from, like Walpole, and that the ban was coming on Aug. 28, not in July.

BOH member Carolyn Riccardi was stuck on who opened the email, as Nasr said he did not see it, and he was not aware of it coming in.

“This is the question,” said Riccardi. “Who opened the email, read it, and didn’t bring it to Mr. Nasr? Therefore we have rules and regulations that cannot be broken. These are for the youth of the Town, the health of the Town, your record is clean and it now has a violation. I suggest you just pay it, Mr. Nasr, and move on with your clean record and business. Because it was clearly sent, it was clearly opened, there’s nothing that says it wasn’t. It’s an oversight, somebody is responsible, and you’re the owner and responsible.”

“I’m here, I didn’t know about the email, and now you tell me we did get the email. If I knew about the email I wouldn’t be here,” he said.

Riccardi said regardless, Nasr is still responsible.

“It’s still on you,” she said.

“I agree, but sometimes when my son makes a mistake, I give him a break,” he said.

“Not my kids!” said Riccardi with a laugh.

The Board voted unanimously to uphold the fine, despite speaking in sympathy with Nasr’s position.

In other related news, Atkins said her inspections of likely establishments to sell Kratom went otherwise uneventfully.

“I only found Kratom products at two retailers, one of which was the Mobil who just left, and the other was Quick Stop at the corner of Washington and Railroad Avenue, and they were also issued a $500 ticket, which they have paid,” she said.

Health Department Director Stacey Lane said the department has created an info page for Kratom and similar substances at https://gvimes.link/nrwdkrtm

In unrelated news, Norwood Health Department Nurse Diana Hillery gave her monthly report, and said they are keeping an eye out for infectious diseases heading into the fall season. She said shots – like for flu and COVID-19 – are her primary focus right now, and said they offer shots delivered if a resident needs it. You can call the Town Hall at 781-762-1240 to set up an appointment.

She added they are doing a flu clinic at the Norwood Senior Center on Oct. 1 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

“You just have to bring your insurance information and a short-sleeve shirt,” she said.

Lane chimed in with the current EEE and West Nile Virus numbers in the state, and said there are no EEE cases reported at that time (and none at the time of publication). There were eight West Nile cases reported in the state so far, but none in Norwood.

Also at the meeting, Lane said there is an upcoming Zoom meeting on Oct. 14 to go over the survey results of the Norfolk County-8 Public Health Coalition’s recent survey. To register for the meeting, go to https://gvimes.link/srvydisc

Lane said the meeting will be going over the survey results, which focused on access to care, usually centered over the lack of Norwood Hospital.

Speaking of Norwood Hospital, BOH member Joan Jacobs reminded the Board that Medical Properties Trust has until Nov. 1 to sell the Norwood Hospital and its properties before the State Department of Capital Asset Management takes it over through eminent domain and sells the properties itself.

“Keep that date in mind,” Jacobs said.

“That’s great news,” said Riccardi.