A local addiction recovery official wants local students and parents to know that there are legal, unregulated substances sold in the open in Henderson that can lead to overdoses and death.
In recent Henderson City Commission and Henderson County Fiscal Court meetings, Carrie Gentry, the director for both the Stop The Overdose Project and the Recovery Resource Club, told local lawmakers that two substances—Kratom and “Spice”—are both very dangerous substances and can be bought at local vape stores or gas stations.
In fact, a flag in front of a Green Street vape shop advertises “Kratom.”
Gentry told the Hendersonian that Kratom is being called “gas station heroine” or “mainstream opiate.”
“It’s very serious,” she said. In one video she showed, a doctor said kratom has similar effects of opiates and is 13 times stronger than morphine, and Gentry added that the withdrawals of kratom are worse than any opioid.
But companies can still sell the substance that can come in powder, tea or capsules, Gentry said.
In the last General Assembly, state legislators passed a law that kratom can’t be sold to anyone younger than 21. Gentry, however, said that companies still are marketing it to younger people, an opinion that was also shared by a health advocate in a recent Stateline article who said that kratom packages are often bright and appeal to a younger clientele.
Gentry also warned about the potential for overdose with kratom. Furthermore, unlike an overdose from opioids like heroine and fentanyl in which Narcan can block the body’s opioid receptors to reverse the effects of an overdose, Narcan won’t reverse an overdose from kratom. Kratom is not an opioid, so blocking those receptors, as Narcan does, has no effect.
Some effects of kratom include seizures, nausea, slow breathing, liver damage, delusion and confusion, said Gentry.
“All this stuff has been marketed safe and legal and it’s jacking up (younger people’s) brains like nobody’s business,” Gentry said.
Another substance of concern locally is called “spice,” which is a spray designed to mimic the effect of THC, Gentry said. She said that users spray it on any type of leaf or plant and then smoke it.
It has caused paranoia, anxiety and a high heart rate like a heart attack in users, Gentry said.
“These things you can definitely get at a gas station or vape shop,” Gentry said.
Another substance Gentry mentioned at the recent meetings is called “tranq,” a shortened slang for what the drug was made for—a tranquilizer for mammals such as horses, cows and elephants.
Most users cut it into heroine or fentanyl, or unknowingly take it after someone else has added it to their drug of choice, Gentry said.
Gentry said tranq, or Xylazine, has been labeled the “zombie drug” because users slump over or fall to the ground and remain corpse-like after taking it.
“(Tranq) is here but it’s not real bad,” Gentry said, though she added it could get worse.
In Gentry’s work with STOP, she presents at all the schools in the county to educate students, but also to empower youth to have conversations with parents or guardians about illicit substances. And vice versa, with her other work and making public presentations to local government, she wants adults to be able to talk to young people.
“We’re trying to teach people about healthy conversations,” she said.
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The addiction recovery community, including the Recovery Resource Club, Women’s Addiction Recovery Manor and Women’s Transition House and the newly opened Men’s Unity Lodge—and all those who work and live at these locations—will be hosting a Overdose Awarenes event, “Louder Than Silence,” from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, August 31, in Central Park.
The event will start off with a memory walk, followed by a candlelight service when the names of loved ones that have died will be read. Later there will be music by Soul In The Pocket, a Q&A session and a keynote address by Darren Hobbs, who is featured in A&E’s “Intervention.”
The event will also include community resources, vendors, food trucks and activities for children, such as a foam party and bounce house, Gentry said.
