Call the meeting to order, beginning with the invocation in the pledge.

Almighty God, send down upon those who hold office in this city the spirit of wisdom, compassion, and justice.

Grant that with steadfast purpose we may faithfully serve our community, seeking the common good, protecting the vulnerable, and promoting the well-being and harmony of all who dwell here.

Amen.

For announcements, City Hall and City Business Offices will be closed on Monday, September seventh in observance of Labor Day.

Police fire and emergency services can be reached by calling nine one one for water-related emergencies.

Uh water related emergencies, call two oh eight, seven seven three, three five one seven.

There will be no trash pickup on Labor Day.

And we have um sadly lost uh a beloved city employee and a good friend of many of ours here.

Uh Shannon Howard devoted eighteen years of her life to public service at the city of Post Falls, first as a city's purchasing officer, and then as a city clerk.

Since that time, she has been the proverbial gatekeeper for city records, council meetings, insurance claims, and various other processes handled by the clerk's office.

Always quick with a smile and an amazing sense of humor.

She has made an impact on many of our lives.

Shannon shared her life with her husband Matt for thirty years, along with her three children.

Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers, and I would ask for a moment of silence for Shannon and her family.

Should have been ready.

We'll return to regular session, and I am asking for the appointment of Rihanna O'Neill as city clerk.

I move to confirm the appointment and oath of office of Rihanna O'Neill as city clerk.

Second.

As previously, based on process, I do believe that they should have should be open so that people can apply and based on that.

All right.

Thank you very much.

And is it just um arrows to go forward?

Got it.

Thank you very much.

Um the reason that I'm here basically is to be informative concerning what we've experienced in the uh coroner's office as far as Kratom is concerned.

And by the way, is there a time limit on my speaking?

I don't want to extend the time, but I can cut it down to whatever time is needed.

Is there any minutes or less would be good?

Okay, great.

Uh if if I may, um I'm here basically because we have experienced uh in our autopsies and in our deaths that we've seen at the coroner's office, um uh kratom is involved uh as one of the substances involved in death, and in fact uh we've uh uh and I'll go through some of the statistics, but um in one individual, the only item on their in their body was Kratom.

And uh Kratom is something, so I'm really here to try to protect the residents of Kooteny County and also not only from death, but potentially from addiction associated with it.

And um, if I may, I'll give you a little bit of background concerning uh my uh credentials because if you for those of you who are unaware, um because the Kratom lobby is very, very strong, and so I made this presentation in front of this the uh Kootney County commissioners, and they're in very much in favor of uh uh banning Kratom in the county, but we need the help of the um cities in order to be an effective ban.

And uh what has occurred basically is um we there are uh the Kratom lobby is quite strong, and so um my presentation was attacked, and emails came, and I anticipate that you guys will receive many emails because of this presentation, so you should expect it.

A lot of those um um emails were based on the fact that well um uh this individual doesn't know uh how to um uh determine the cause of death, he doesn't have a scientific background, doesn't understand the natural food industry, etc.

etc.

And there are some coroners who don't have a strong scientific background, but if I may uh just present my credentials, I'm the only coroner in the state of Idaho who is an MD, and I have a tremendous amount of scientific background, number one.

Number two, in my career, I was medical director of the largest supplement manufacturer in the world for 14 years, and I've spoken on stage in front of thousands in 30 different countries around the world.

And so I spent those 14 years in the natural food industry, and I understand it to a degree that few people do, because I was representing a multi-billion dollar company, the largest in the world.

So when they uh say that I may not understand um plants and I may not understand natural products or the natural food industry, that's not accurate.

Um Kratom is an herbal extract that comes from the leaves of Southeast Asia Evergreen called uh uh metragena speciosa.

It's active ingredient is seven hydroxy metragenine, and it that ingredient is an opiate, and it's thirteen times more powerful than morphine, according to the Texas Department of State and uh health services.

Uh opiates are painkillers and and are also called narcotics, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, fentanyl, heroin, etc.

It fits within that category, and it can be purchased uh over the counter.

And in fact, I uh went to uh three um either gas stations or food convenience stores within three blocks of this building, and they're all selling kratom.

And seven hydroxy is normally two percent of the natural print plant, but the product available in stores can contain up to 98 percent 7 hydroxy.

So uh there are individuals who will say, oh, it's less than 2%, it's 0.05%.

We've got plants.

Well, of course, you can modify some plants to get that out, but the the food supplement industry is uncontrolled.

It's like the wild west.

There was a study done looking at um uh uh uh ginseng manufacturers and 55 different uh manufacturers of ginseng years ago, and 44 of the 55 had little or no ginseng in the bottle.

You can't trust labels in the natural food industry whatsoever.

So if they say they have a certain percentage of 70H, there's no one double checking that to prove that that's true.

Heroin is estimated to be 10 times more powerful than morphine according to this group, and seven hydroxy is 13 times more powerful than morphine.

So the the the term for the um kratom is called gas station heroin, which is actually quite accurate.

In Kooteny County, we've had three deaths where Kratom was involved in 21, one in 22, one in 23, and two in 24, and four of them in 25.

As you can see, the trend is increasing.

And in 25, one of these individuals only involved Kratom, and Kratom was in an exceedingly high level, according to national labs, one of the highest in the nation.

So we have no, and the medical examiner who performed the autopsy said that was the cause of death.

And by the way, someone may uh question our ability of our office as far as our coroner office is concerned.