Greenfield Board of Health Adopts Kratom and Synthetic Drug Sales Restrictions

GREENFIELD -- June 3, 2026, Greenfield Board of Health votes to ban retail sales of kratom and synthetic cannabinoids. The board unanimously adopted regulations Tuesday modeled on a Northampton ordinance, covering kratom, Delta-8, and Delta-10 products sold openly at local convenience stores, after health department staff displayed photographs of the products on open display at a Cumberland Farms location with no legally required age verification. Fines were amended during deliberation to match the board's tobacco enforcement schedule, $1,000 for a first offense, $2,000 for a second, and $5,000 for a third, after members concluded the original $300 penalty was inadequate for products the DEA characterizes as opioid alternatives and that staff linked to a prior local emergency-room hospitalization involving psychosis and seizures. Violations will also trigger suspension of any Board of Health permit held by the offending retailer, including food and tobacco permits. Notices go to retailers by regular mail; the rules take effect 30 days from mailing. The board also directed the representative of a long-condemned property at 189 South Shelburne Road to remove a 1954 camper trailer ordered off the site in 2017 and an unregistered vehicle, and will revisit compliance at its next meeting, tentatively scheduled for July 29.