More officials across Orange County are starting to crackdown on the sale and distribution of kratom — a tropical tree from Southeast Asia whose leaves are being used as both a stimulant and a sedative in different doses.
It comes as some say the plant in its natural form can help with chronic pain and it should be regulated not banned, arguing that products that have a highly enhanced psychoactive chemical derived from kratom are the real danger.
Officials at California Department of Public Health, however, say claims that kratom can treat pain are unproven and it can have side effects like insomnia, anxiety, seizures and fatal respiratory depression…