I was pointed to a few Internet posts where the Flomaton Police Department was being ridiculed by some and applauded by others for arresting an Andalusia man Sunday afternoon on drug trafficking charges after Detective Chance Thompson found a bag containing 1,101 grams of an herbal substance called Kratom.
I'd never heard of Kratom and didn't know what it was. The ridicule came from the fact the purchase of Kratom and the possession of Kratom is legal in the state of Florida and illegal in the state of Alabama. So technically you can buy it several hundred yards south of the Flomaton town limit in Florida if any of those stores sell the stuff.
Some of the posts I read basically said “it's legal in Florida, what's the big deal”. Well, the big deal is that it is illegal in the state of Alabama. It's been illegal in Alabama since Gov. Robert Bentley signed a bill passed by the Alabama Legislature in 2016.
I remember early in life being told 'ignorance of the law is no excuse'.
Let's look at a few examples. Marijuana is legal in Colorado and several other states. But if you go to Colorado and purchase legal marijuana and bring it back to Alabama, you're going to be arrested if you are caught.
Prostitution is legal in Las Vegas; see what happens if you decide to open a whorehouse in Alabama. My bet is you will go to jail.
Casino gambling is legal in Mississippi, Las Vegas and other places across this nation. Gambling is illegal in Alabama and if you open a casino you're going to be shutdown and likely go to jail. All you have to do is look at some of the people who tried to follow the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and open so-called electronic bingo halls that were nothing more than slot machines. They got shutdown and people went to jail.
You can buy a lottery ticket in Century, Fla., but you can't buy one in Flomaton, Ala., because it's illegal in this state. An Alabama lottery will be an issue in the upcoming race between Democrat Walt Maddox and Republican Kay Ivey, but today, it's illegal.
I remember years ago when 'spice', disguised as potpourri or incense started making its way into our convenient stores. I was told that chemists began looking at the legal limit a certain drug had and stayed just under that limit. But the combination of the 'legal' drugs made spice potentially deadly. Alabama banned it and made it illegal.
Kratom seems to have followed the same path. It's a plant-based substance that grows on trees in Southeast Asia. Early on, it was marketed in the United States as a dietary or nutritional supplement that is added to your favorite beverage. According to Detective Thompson, Luke Mark Popwell was mixing his with orange juice.
Thompson gave me some literature on Kratom that says the substance has the same interactions with the body a hydrocodone or morphine. Since he printed it off the Internet, I wanted to do some checking on my own.
I called Denise Carlee, director of the Escambia County (Ala.) Drug Court and she confirmed that Kratom has the same effects as opioids.
She said she first heard of Kratom from drug court clients who said people were getting hooked on the stuff and it wasn't detectable in a drug test.
Carlee said while the drug was still legal in Alabama, she bought a 2 oz. bottle for a little more than $7 in a bottle labeled 'Viva Zen'. She said it comes in either liquid, powder or capsule form. It was supposed to relax your muscles.
She said the label stated to take only 1 ounce until you see how it affects you. She said she poured the bottle out in the parking lot but kept the bottle to show students during Drugs Erase Dreams presentations what not to buy at the store.
“We weren't able to test for it, but it was a way to get the opioid feeling and not fail the drug test,” Carlee said.
She said the more she began checking into it, the more she learned that it was a dangerous compound and addictive.
She said new drug tests now can detect the presence of Kratom and if a drug court client tests positive, they go to jail for a few days. She added she's seen about seven positives for Kratom since the new test was developed.
What they do in Biloxi, Las Vegas, Florida, Colorado or Atlantic City is their business. What we do in Alabama is ours (or at least it's the Legislature's business). It's legal to drive a motorcycle in Florida without a helmet, but if you cross the overpass into Flomaton without one, you are going to get a ticket.
Why bash the Flomaton Police Department for doing its job. The police don't make the laws, their responsibility is to enforce the laws passed in the legislative process.
