TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THRU: Jarad Hildenbrand, City Manager
FROM: Russell Bunim, Community Development Director
1. SUBJECT
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Introduction and First Reading of Ordinance No. 01-26 adding Chapter 9.45 to the Orange Municipal Code prohibiting the sale and distribution of kratom products.
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2. SUMMARY
The proposed Ordinance prohibits the sale and distribution of kratom products within City limits. At present, the Orange Municipal Code contains no regulations addressing kratom. The intent of the Ordinance is to safeguard public health and welfare by restricting products that the United States Food and Drug Administration has identified as having opioid-like properties and posing risks to community safety.
3. RECOMMENDED ACTION
recommendation
Introduce and conduct First Reading of Ordinance No. 01-26. An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Orange adding Chapter 9.45 of the Orange Municipal Code prohibiting the sale and distribution of kratom products.
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4. FISCAL IMPACT
None.
5. STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS
Goal 1: Maintain Strong Emergency and Safety Services
6. DISCUSSION AND BACKGROUND
The recreational misuse of kratom, a plant with opioid-like properties, poses risks of addiction, abuse, and dependence, creating significant public health concern. Unlike tobacco, which is regulated at the state, federal, and local levels to prevent sales to minors, kratom currently has no age restrictions or regulations in California or the City of Orange.
Kratom products are widely sold in convenience stores, supermarkets, liquor shops, gas stations, and especially tobacco retailers. They are marketed in multiple forms, including powders, capsules, pills, beverages, teas, gummies, smoking wraps, vaping liquids, and edibles, and contain psychoactive alkaloids that act as stimulants at low doses and produce sedative, opioid-like effects at higher doses. The products are increasingly linked to overdose deaths.
Federal age...
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