Two weeks after giving preliminary approval to a law that would outlaw kratom sales, the Fresno City Council pivoted this week, giving a final green light to a modified law that restricts, rather than bans, the sale of kratom products to adults.
Kratom, a plant in the same botanical family as coffee, is native to Southeast Asia and has a long history of traditional use as a stimulant in that part of the world.
It has gained popularity in recent decades in the U.S. because of the mood-altering effects of two of the naturally-occurring alkaloid compounds found in the leaves, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitraginine, or 7-OH…