Boston Council Moves Toward Kratom Ban Ordinance After Families Testify About Deaths

BOSTON — March 9, 2026 — Boston City Council committee hears emotional testimony on kratom dangers, signals move toward ban. The Committee on Public Health, Homelessness and Recovery, chaired by District 3 Councillor John Fitzgerald and co-sponsored by Councillor Edward Flynn, held a hearing Monday on Docket 0175 — an order to discuss regulating kratom — and heard from three parents and one aunt whose adult children died from mitragynine toxicity with no other substances involved. PJ McCann, Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Planning at the Boston Public Health Commission, told the committee that BPHC recommends against kratom use for any purpose and that approximately 750 city tobacco retailers are now being informally monitored for kratom sales. Peter Barbuto, president and CEO of the Gavin Foundation, described kratom as undetectable on standard drug screens and said it is "highly addictive," recounting a close friend's relapse after buying a 7-OH energy drink at a gas station. Fitzgerald committed to a working session to draft a citywide ban ordinance modeled on Boston's 2015 synthetic cannabinoid prohibition, with Councillor Sharon Durkin requesting the Inspectional Services Department be included; no vote was taken and no date for the working session was set.