Kansas City convenience stores will no longer be able to sell so-called “gas station drugs” under new rules approved Thursday by the City Council.
The ban covers chemical inhalants like nitrous oxide, often called whippets, nitrate poppers and synthetic kratom products.
Unadulterated kratom comes from a Southeast Asian tree leaf and is often taken for pain relief and energy enhancement. But a derivative, called 7-OH, is synthesized into an alkaloid found in kratom. The result is much more potent than the natural product and critics say it is much more dangerous…