Health board votes to send Kratom rule to counsel

Board of Health · Meeting of July 21, 2026

Ashland's Board of Health voted 4-0 to send a revised Kratom regulation to town counsel, despite two residents urging an outright ban. Vice Chair John Byrnes said the draft, built after consultations with a University of Florida pharmacology professor and officials in North Attleboro and Rhode Island, caps mitragynine at 2.5 percent and 7-hydroxymitragynine at 0.05 percent and would require any future vendor to appear before the board for a permit. Resident Amy Turncliff, citing Dr.

Andrew Kolodny, said "Kratom's danger doesn't lie just in its role in overdose deaths. It's fueling a rise in opioid use disorder itself." Health Director Rajit Gupta said permitting makes enforcement easier: "At least we know who's selling it." The board separately granted four septic variances, 4-0-0, for a failing cesspool at 257 Oak Street, and reported two active tuberculosis cases in town.

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Source: the Board of Health meeting of July 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.