Posted on 03/20/2025 2:16:21 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Reports of deadly overdoses have surfaced in recent years
Montana lawmakers are grappling with how -- if at all -- the state should rein in kratom, an unregulated plant-derived substance with addictive properties sold mainly as a mood and energy booster at gas stations, vape shops, and elsewhere.
Kratom, which originates from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia, is also touted for helping relieve pain and opioid withdrawal symptoms. But it can have wide-ranging mental and bodily effects, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), addiction medicine experts, and kratom researchers. Reports of deadly kratom overdosesopens in a new tab or window have surfaced in recent years, though often in combination with other substances.
But the drug is in a gray federal regulatory area: It's designated by the DEA as a "drug and chemical of concernopens in a new tab or window," but it is not considered a controlled substance. Legislation introduced in Congressopens in a new tab or window in 2023 to study kratom has not advanced.
The lack of federal regulation and congressional action has left it to states to step into the complex debate over how to clean up supply chains and protect users.
The kratom industry itself wants to help address this regulatory void. A bill drafted by the American Kratom Association, a national industry lobbying group, is pending in the Montana Legislature. In its current form, the industry-dubbed "Kratom Consumer Protection Act" would ban sales to people under 18 and restrict which products can be labeled as "kratom" based on the amount and potency of two chemical components, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine.
Similar industry-backed bills have passed in 14 statesopens in a new tab or window, including Oregon, Texas, Kentucky, and Maryland, according to the American Kratom Association website. Other states, including Wisconsin and Arkansas, have enacted kratom bans by listing it as a Schedule I controlled substance.
Oliver Grundmannopens in a new tab or window, PhD, a University of Florida researcher who has studied kratom since 2016, said industry-written bills often hinge on producers accurately representing what's in their products. Lawmakers and the public in Montana may not be convinced that the proposed legislation will put public health considerations above commercial interests.
"Naturally, a company is driven by profits and making sure that they can retain their profits," Grundmann said. "I'm skeptical of self-regulation."
Whether the Montana bill will be effective hinges on the state having enough resources to regulate the industry, as well as industry retailers honestly testing and marketing their products, he said.
The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Nelly Nicolopens in a new tab or window, said she's trying to bring her fellow lawmakers up to speed on a substance that few people understand. Nicol said she delayed House Bill 407opens in a new tab or window's first committee hearing to give herself more time to speak with legislators and to hear from groups that support and disagree with the industry's suggested approach. She indicated she's open to amending the bill, though it has not yet been rescheduled for a committee hearing.
"We're going to be changing our minds and learning things and molding this as we're going," Nicol said in a February interview.
Researchers and addiction medicine experts have struggled in recent years to pin down kratom's health effects and patterns of use. A federal survey from 2021opens in a new tab or window estimated that 1.7 million Americans age 12 and older used the substance in some way the year before the study.
Medical providers and addiction researchers in Montana say patients often don't disclose their kratom use to healthcare providers. Some consider it an herbal supplement, a perception driven by its accessibility in gas stations and vape shops, rather than a mind-altering and potentially addictive drug.
Megan Zawacki, a physician assistant and addiction medicine specialist in Helena, said many of her patients seek help for misuse of other substances and aren't easily convinced of kratom's negative side effects.
"The majority of my patients that are using it can't even quantify to me how much they're using," Zawacki said.
But if their use spirals into addiction, she said, the consequences of the substance become clearer. At her clinic in Helena, Zawacki said, more of her patients are currently being treated for kratom addiction than for opioid use disorder.
"I've had two patients specifically in the last calendar year tell me, 'We need to bring legislation against kratom,'" she said. "Because it is so readily available and so misunderstood that it just is wreaking havoc on their lives."
Depending on how it's manufactured and how much users consume, kratom can function as a stimulant or a sedative. Though not an opioid, its key chemical components can target opioid receptors in the brain, leading some advocates to cite its potential for helping opioid users manage withdrawal.
Zawacki and other Montana providers say they have prescribed buprenorphine to help patients stop using kratom -- the same treatment often used to manage opioid addiction.
Some Montana advocacy groups that work to prevent substance misuse have also flagged concerns about kratom use among minors. Beth Price Morrison, with the Alliance for Youth in Great Falls, said her organization has pressured gas stations in the area to stop carrying kratom products or at least keep them behind the counter.
"Our youth are really struggling with mental health right now, and they turn to substances to cope. And this stuff is easily accessible," Price Morrison said.
Price Morrison and Nicol expressed support for raising the age limit on kratom sales to users 21 and older, rather than 18, which is in the current draft of the American Kratom Association bill.
The legislation would allow state regulators to screen kratom products coming on the market in Montana and create a registry of permitted distributors. Vendors would be banned from selling or promoting kratom products whose concentration of 7-hydroxymitragynine exceeds 2% of the total alkaloid content.
The American Kratom Association and other supporters say that such a restriction would help weed out natural forms of kratom from synthetic, higher-potency concoctions. Some kratom researchers have endorsed this type of market regulation, citing the chaotic array of products currently allowed to sport kratom labels.
Grundmann, the University of Florida researcher, said there has been an "evolution" in the United States of products being labeled and sold as kratom.
"The kratom that was on the market then was basically ground-up leaf powder that was not further concentrated," Grundmann said. "What we have seen in recent years is even stronger extracts that focus specifically on mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. These should not be seen as 'kratom' any longer."
Grundmann, who supported a similar version of legislation in Arizona in 2019, said Montana's bill is a starting point for regulation. He said other states, including Colorado, began with a common framework and put more guardrails in placeopens in a new tab or window in recent years.
Price Morrison, the youth prevention advocate, said she has broader misgivings about any bill that normalizes the sale of kratom in Montana. In an ideal world, she said, she would like to see the product banned completely.
"We know that availability drives use. And when a product is marketed as regulated, it gains legitimacy," Price Morrison said. "And more people, including those who are vulnerable, end up using it."
KFF Health Newsopens in a new tab or window is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF -- an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFFopens in a new tab or window.
I’m proud to say I’ve never heard of kratom.
Yeah, the feds have done great with drugs, right?
Why is there still this blind trust in the mostly unconstitutional federal gov’t?
I trust local state gov’ts much more than the pathetic, bloated, distant, careless, dangerous, and illegal federal gov’t.
Bath salts?
Good point. But how can we best protect people against predatory pharmaceutical companies?
Aren't these the same people who were telling us a bit ago about "deadly Ivermectin overdoses" that never happened?
But I also understand it could be a great way to wean people off opioids. But perhaps there aren't studies, because it's not patentable.
MO!!!
A friend of mine took this stuff for years. Until his doctor opened his eyes that it was causing his zero libido.
Hard to prepare?
The farmers in Indonesia grow the leaves from trees. They take of everything and ship it to the US. once it’s here you order from a vendor or as becoming more popular, from tobacco shops.
It is wonderful for pain.
Government has a legitimate role warning people of the new hazzard.
You’re going to have people that don’t know it’s dangerous.
Parents that can’t identify it.
Lots of legit roles.
BUT, knowing our government, this is a call for action, a crisis that needs a government solution. Meaning a budget, sweeping authorities, manpower, codified penalties...
Government loves to grow itself. That seems like the only sector that truly grew in the last 20 years.
If they’re dong something illegal, go after them but the gov’t is a BIG part of the problem.
ONCE the market is actually FREE from gov’t bribes (”subsidies”) than there will be open competition to allow higher quality, lower cost pharmaceuticals.
Almost all so-called monopolies are actually gov’t-subsidized industries taking away from free and open competition.
Get gov’t out of the marketplace and restore the free market economy!!!
HA! That’s a laugh.
NO state is more corrupt or illegal (unconstitutional) than the feds.
MA is LOCAL governance and the people of that state have much more control over how MA is governed than we the people over the gargantuan feds who can’t even govern themselves.
Kratom,a Thai word/name, has been popular and been used in Thailand for centuries . Thais consider it no big deal, but it is, last time I heard, illegal. Although not majorly illegal; mildly illegal. It’s easy for people to have a kratom scrub out behind the house, or in nearby brush, which blends right in. Not a distinctly visible plant, like ganja.
Mitragyna speciosa, it’s related to coffee. But unlike coffee, you do not harvest/process any fruits ( beans) . More like Coca, the leaves are chewed. How these leaves are processed and sold far from the point of origin, I have no idea.
“But how can we best protect people against predatory pharmaceutical companies?”
It would have to start with the sincere desire to, but pharma $$$ ensures that that’s not going to happen.
Aren’t these the same people who were telling us a bit ago about “deadly Ivermectin overdoses” that never happened?
That would be a solid “yes”. Big pharma is pi$$ed because it actually is “safe and effective” at certain doses and for certain conditions, and is less toxic and far less costly than their alternatives. They resent anyone cutting into their action. However, if it were to become a prescription item, there would be non-stop ads praising it to the heavens (and the price would increase 100X).
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