On Wednesday, October 7th, Makin’ It Happen hosted nonprofit partners, prevention, treatment, recovery, and mental health professionals, law enforcement officers, government officials, and community leaders for the Under the Radar: Unregulated Intoxicants Symposium!
Unregulated intoxicants continue to be a concern in the prevention field, with companies targeting youth with marketing to make sweeping claims of providing a “natural calm” or being a “plant-based wellness solution” on opioid-like products; we knew we needed to gather the community to talk about this subject. Unregulated intoxicants include Nitrous Oxide, Kratom, Kava, Delta-8, Blue Lotus, and “Magic” Mushrooms, all of which lack crucial regulation to prevent misuse and addiction. We brought together the two collaboratives we host monthly, the Youth Wellness and Prevention Collaborative and the Recovery Ready Communities Collaborative, to tackle this information head-on. The mayor of Manchester, Jay Ruais, and representatives from both Senator Hassen and Senator Shaheen’s offices spoke on behalf of the work being done in New Hampshire and our communities at the government level.
Our keynote featured Makin’ It Happen’s Laurie Warnock, an educator with the Northern New England Poison Center, who set the stage with an overview of unregulated substances and where they are showing up in our communities. We were also fortunate to have Bonnie White, whose son experienced addiction and recovery related to Kratom and 7-OH, speak about her family’s experiences with these products. Bonnie shared that there was very little information available about these substances, and her family believed they were safe, plant-based supplements that could help with anxiety. What they didn’t know was that these kratom products were not simply plant-based supplements, but high-dose, synthetic, concentrated 7-OH products. This ultimately led to addiction and, eventually, a recovery program where even the professionals were unfamiliar with the substance. Hearing from Laurie and Bonnie was incredibly impactful for our attendees and served as a powerful wake-up call to just how much work there is still to be done.
The day was packed with important workshops from prevention professionals, including a panel featuring students to hear their input and experience with these substances in their schools and communities, a deep dive on how companies selling these products are deliberately targeting youth, and New Hampshire’s DHHS representatives to talk about their new awareness campaign: Unlabeled.
Bonnie White, Kate Frey of New Futures, and Special Agent Paul Spera of the Drug Enforcement Administration closed out the day with a panel to answer lingering Questions and give us all some action items to take home and combat the challenges that face our communities with these unregulated substances through education, advocacy, and enforcement.
A special thank you to our summer task force, including Andrew Warner, Pam Carbee, Sarah Cain, Stephanie Savard and Tricia Brennen for playing such an important role and makin’ this happen! We were lucky to have the support of SNHU who donated the space for this event, and the Opioid Abatement Community Grants Program for financial support.
Written by Anne Bonner | Marketing and Communications Lead | 10/08/2026.
