CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Waive the first reading and pass the ordinance amending Sections 3-3 and 3-6 of the Naperville Municipal Code to prohibit the retail sale of kratom
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DEPARTMENT: Legal Department
SUBMITTED BY: Jennifer Bonner, Senior Assistant City Attorney
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
On July 9, 2026, the Liquor Commission unanimously recommended prohibiting the retail sale of kratom. Attached are the July 9, 2026 Liquor Commission meeting minutes.
BACKGROUND:
On September 3, 2019, the City Council adopted an ordinance that restricted youth access to kratom. The measure prohibited the local retail sale of kratom to individuals under 21 and barred possession by those under 18. This action supplemented the Illinois Kratom Control Act by establishing a local minimum sales age of 21 while aligning possession prohibitions with state law.
Kratom is derived from the leaves of a tropical evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia.
The leaves can be brewed as tea, crushed into powder, smoked, snorted, or taken in capsules or tablets. People have used kratom as a mood enhancer, energy booster, and pain reliever, and some advocates claim it may help with opioid withdrawal.
However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns against its use due to risks such as liver toxicity, seizures, and substance use disorder.
Several municipalities have responded to rising kratom use by adopting tighter controls.
Rockford prohibits the sale of synthetic 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) kratom products, while Winnetka, Plainfield and Bloomington have implemented full retail sale bans.
DISCUSSION:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued multiple warning letters regarding the unlawful addition of synthetic 7-OH to commercial kratom products. This concentrated form can exceed the potency of morphine, significantly increasing the risk of rapid tolerance, severe substance use disorder, and accidental overdose. Laboratory testing frequently shows intentional adulteration, with 7-OH levels reaching up to 500 percent higher than concentrations naturally present in raw kratom leaf.
At the July 9, 2026 Liquor Commission meeting, several speakers addressed the negative impacts of kratom. Resident Ashley Ware spoke about the lack of public information concerning kratom’s addictive potential, its marketing as an herbal supplement, and the harmful health effects she personally experienced from using it.
Alex Cochran of the Fox Valley Institute noted that kratom dependence is treated similarly to opioid use, often requiring medications such as Buprenorphine and Suboxone. She explained that attempts to stop or reduce use can trigger a withdrawal syndrome closely resembling opioid discontinuation.
Ari Bernstein of Linden Oaks Behavioral Health discussed testing of kratom products, showing that product contents frequently did not match their labels. Many products contained undisclosed compounds, synthetic derivatives, or inaccurate ingredient lists, leaving consumers unaware of what they were ingesting.
360 Youth Services referenced data from the 2025 Monitoring the Future Survey, which found that 1.2 percent of 12th-grade students had used kratom within the past year. They further emphasized that age restrictions alone do not adequately protect youth, noting that most underage individuals who obtain alcoholic liquor do so through someone of legal age rather than purchasing it themselves.
Beyond banning the retail sale of kratom, the draft ordinance cleans up the Municipal Code by removing redundant language and updating key terminology. Specifically, it replaces "palcohol" with "powdered alcohol" and "smoking alcohol inhalation" with "alcohol vaporizer," while updating all related Code sections. Additionally, the sections regarding synthetic alternative drugs, tetrahydrocannabinol, and kratom have been moved into Section 3-6A, which regulates retail establishments.
FISCAL IMPACT:
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