HUNTINGTON, NY – May 4, 2026
If you’ve walked into a gas station, smoke shop, or even a wellness aisle lately, you might have seen shots or elixirs kratom and kava next to the energy shots. Or maybe kratom seltzers, pressed pills, capsules, and powders, in bright packaging that looks more like an energy supplement than a substance with real pharmacological effects. Kratom is everywhere, and many people, whether they’re using it themselves, watching a loved one use it, or seeing it on the shelves, are looking for clearer information than what’s currently out there.
At Mountainside Treatment Center, we’ve watched the landscape shift quickly. Kratom admissions at our facilities rose 174% between 2024 and 2025. Nationally, poison center reports reached a record 3,434 in 2025, a 1,200% increase since 2015, and roughly 5 million Americans have used kratom, many of whom relate to it as a wellness product or a natural pain reliever rather than a drug. The newer high-potency 7-OH formulations showing up in seltzers and vapes are a meaningfully different substance than the raw leaf people often picture when they hear the word “kratom” and that’s part of what makes the current moment so worth talking about.
That’s the conversation we want to open up on Wednesday, May 13, with Understanding Kratom: A Community Symposium. This is a free, evidence-informed evening designed for medical professionals, parents, school staff, prevention partners, clinicians, current users, family members, and anyone in the Huntington community who wants a clearer picture of what they’re seeing.
Leading the discussion is Jana Wu, Mountainside’s Director of Clinical Integration and a recognized subject matter expert on kratom. Jana will walk through what kratom actually is, the legality of it, how it’s being used, how it is being purchased, why it doesn’t show up on standard drug screens, what dependence and withdrawal can look like, and what support looks like for people who want it. Our goal is clarity, not alarm, and practical takeaways you can bring back to your home, classroom, or practice.
This event reflects the work we do every day at Mountainside: meeting communities where they are, sharing what we’re seeing on the clinical front lines, and making sure families, professionals, and individuals don’t have to navigate a fast-moving substance landscape alone. When disclosure goes down, risk goes up, and the only way to bring disclosure back up is with honest, nonjudgmental conversation. That’s what this evening is built for.
We’re proud to partner with Huntington Matters, AWARE Drug and Alcohol Community Coalition, and the Thomas’ Hope Foundation to bring this conversation to the Huntington community.
Wednesday, May 13 | 6:00–7:30 PM | 141 E Main Street, Huntington, NY Doors open at 6:00 PM with light refreshments. Presentation begins at 6:30 PM.
Questions? Reach out to Gary Lupinacci, Community Relations Liaison, at gary.lupinacci@mountainside.com or 347-346-0356.
