The Salem City Council Monday night voted unanimously to immediately ban the sale of Kratom and 7-OH at conveniences stores and smoke shops.
Mayor Nic Farley brought the ordinance to the city council because of the health impact it was having on some residents.
“Effective immediately. Retailers will have to pull it off their shelves. There is a fine that retailers will pay for incident of having it on their store shelves. So we want to see, especially the 7-OH material, out of our town.”
As Liquor Commission, Farley is going to each retailer selling the items on Tuesday.
Police Chief Tyler Rose says he will assist the Mayor if necessary.
“Absolutely, to make sure they don’t continue to sell it after its been banned. It’s lively advertised at a lot of the local shops, so they will take all that down. If we get any reports of them selling after the fact, we will reinforce it.”
The FDA has recommended that 7-OH be classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, placing it in the same category as heroin and LSD due to its high potential abuse. Kradom can be sold in its natural or synthetic forms and can cause serious health effects.
Farley said he didn’t take action sooner because he thought the state legislature would act this session, but they never did.
The City Council Monday night failed to get a motion to approve a TIF 4 Agreement Amendment with Salem Tie Center and Glen Henderson, so the original TIF agreement will remain in place.
The council rescinded an agreement in TIF 2 for improvements to the former Flint Ink building at 1835 West Main after learning the property is not located within the district. The city will now work to add the property to the Enterprise Zone to pay for some of the renovation cost.
