The parents of a 26-year-old Sandoval man described to the Sandoval Village Board Tuesday night how synthetic kratom and nitrous oxide sold at a Sandoval business rendered their son unconscious for two days and left him disabled.
Angie and Steve Gordon then asked the board to ban the sale of the items in the Sandoval to protect others.
“The nitrous oxide tanks caused my son to have oxygen depletion from his brain and his spinal cord,” Angie Gordon said. “It caused him permanent damage to his spinal cord; it hurts every day. He can’t walk right in the morning, he kind of loses his balance until he finally regains it again. His toes are numb, and sometimes his fingers. It caused him psychosis. He had to be in a psych ward for days, until a week later he came back to his senses totally. He would see hallucinations, and he just really didn’t know where he was at.
Gordon says her son is now disabled.
“He cannot work anymore. He cannot stand on his feet, and sometimes his ankle turns from underneath him and he just falls while he’s walking. We’re waiting for disability to come for him, and we’re just taking care of him and taking it day by day. He’s very depressed, and he’s a young man. He’s a kid, he’s 26. This shouldn’t happen to anybody, let alone a young person, but anybody. It’s got to stop.”
The village board agreed but decided to wait until an ordinance was drawn up by their attorney for consideration next month.
The board will also investigate what is being sold after the Gordon’s brought numerous bottles and containers their son had received from the store.
The Gordon’s say their son is a drug addict and was seeking help in getting off of illegal drugs when he bought the products.
Salem and Kinmundy have already banned kratom and the Marion County Board is expected to consider a ban on the sale of synthetic kratom at their September meeting.
