ASCENSION PARISH, La. (WAFB) – The Ascension Parish Council introduced an ordinance during a meeting on Aug. 4 to regulate the sale and use of the controversial drug Kratom.

According to the Department of Justice & Drug Enforcement Administration, Kratom is an herbal substance that can be taken as a pill, powder or brewed as a tea.

Supporters of the drug say its commonly used to treat pain or serve as an alternative to using opioids. However, opponents of the product argue that its highly addictive and dangerous.

“It can be used in the right way if people have the education for it, but that’s not what it’s being used for,” Tiffany Cooper said.

Get the full story at ksla.com

FRANKFORT — A plant commonly known as kratom, which can lead to stimulant or sedative effects, spurred discussion among legislators Wednesday during a meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Health, Welfare, and Family Services.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), kratom and kratom-based products are now legal and obtainable in the United States, but international agencies are still gathering information about them.

During the 2022 legislative session, Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, sponsored House Bill 569, which would have prohibited a kratom processor or kratom retailer from dispensing, selling or distributing any kratom extract or kratom product to anyone under 21 years of age.

HB 569 did not pass this year, but Calloway told committee members that kratom use in Kentucky needs to be addressed due to safety concerns.

Read the full article at Richmond Register

Kratom, an herbal extract that is banned in Wisconsin and five other states, could be legalized in the state after a regulatory board agreed to provide guidance to the Legislature at the urging of a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

The state’s Controlled Substances Board last week said it would study kratom, sometimes used to treat pain or manage opioid withdrawal, and make recommendations. The substance became illegal in a 2014 state law that mostly regulated cannabinoids such as CBD and those found in marijuana.

“We’re taking the approach of providing some guidance around kratom,” Doug Englebert, chair of the Controlled Substances Board, said during the board’s meeting July 15.

Read more at Madison

On the shelves of head shops and convenience stores across the region, a controversial botanical from Southeast Asia is causing a stir.

Advocates describe it as a mild-acting pain reliever that has the potential to help reduce symptoms of opioid withdrawal. Opponents characterize it as a potentially dangerous drug that can cause hallucinations and even psychosis.

It’s called kratom, and it’s legal for all ages in Pennsylvania.

“It’s pretty popular,” said Ann Marie Bossard, co-owner of Anthracite Newsstand in Wilkes-Barre. The store sells kratom in several forms, including powders, capsules and vapes. “A lot of people use it for arthritis, rheumatism, cramps and pain. They say that it takes the edge away. And we do sell quite a bit of it.”

Popular though it may be, government organizations have expressed serious concerns about kratom’s safety.

Read more at thetimes-tribune.com

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House on Monday voted 197-3 to ban the sale of kratom to minors, after earlier legislative moves stripped from the bill safeguards for adults who use the substance taken from a tropical evergreen tree.

Bill sponsor Rep. Tracy Pennycuick, a Montgomery County Republican, said she was frustrated that the adult-targeted measures were taken out of the bill in a committee. She said they would be contained in a future bill.

Consumed in powder, capsule and beverage forms, kratom is a largely unregulated, but widely used substance. It can be mixed with things that make it more harmful, or have unpredictable effects if used in improper amounts.

“We have seen children in the ER,” Pennycuick said. “We have had children who have had seizures.”

Keep reading at mcall.com

House Appropriations Committee leaders have released yet another set of spending bill reports that touch on marijuana and other drug policy issues like kratom, with this latest batch focusing on cannabis research barriers, impaired driving and preventing use by youth and pregnant people.

Additionally, at a committee markup on Tuesday, members separately approved an amendment aimed at removing a federal funding cap to reimburse local and state police departments that are partners in a cannabis eradication program targeting illicit growers.

The newly released reports, meanwhile, cover funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, Transportation and Interior for the 2023 Fiscal Year.

Much of the report language centers on studying cannabis, including one section that reiterates the committee’s ongoing concerns about barriers associated with investigating Schedule I drugs like marijuana that “effectively limit the amount and type of research that can be conducted.”

Keep reading at marijuanamoment.net

A state House bill that was supposed to enhance consumer protections for kratom, an unregulated plant that has the properties of a stimulant when consumed at low levels and an opiate when consumed in high quantities, ended up looking very different when it came out of committee this week.

Instead of adding protections, the Republican-controlled House Health Committee amended the bill sponsored by Rep. Tracy Pennycuick, R-Mongomery, to remove all provisions about kratom manufacturing and production, and lowered the purchasing age to 18 years old from 21 years old.

The American Kratom Association, an industry trade group that advocates to keep kratom legal and pass kratom regulations, argued those provisions were necessary to keep consumers safe; supporters of the amendment argued most of the regulations struck from the bill were already in place. Legislators are discussing different amendments to the bill, but its future remains in limbo. 

Read the story at Pennsylvania Capital-Star

Gov. Kate Brown recently signed into law the Oregon Kratom Consumer Protection Act, which took effect this month. This is vital legislation for Oregon and shapes the path for federal regulations of kratom, a popular herbal remedy, to keep all consumers safe.

As a member of Gov. Brown’s Opioid Task Force, I have learned how damaging opioids can be to individuals and their families. After years of scientific research showing that kratom is a significantly safer product than opioids and other drugs, many of us are relieved that Governor Brown has decided to take this step to protect Oregonians who rely on kratom. This passage marks a change in understanding why protecting and regulating kratom is so important.

Read the full story at The Oregonian

The governor of Colorado has signed a bill that provides a regulatory framework for the legal sale of kratom, a plant that advocates say can serve as a safer alternative to opioids and also help treat symptoms of addiction withdrawal.

The signing of the Regulation Of Kratom Processors Act, sponsored by Sen. Joann Ginal (D), makes Colorado the eighth state to take this kind of legislative approach to the substance at a time when calls for safe opioid alternatives are rising at all levels of government amid the ongoing overdose epidemic.

Gov. Jared Polis (D), who as a member of Congress was among several lawmakers in 2017 who pushed for federal agencies to research kratom’s health impacts, signed the bill last week. The American Kratom Association (AKA) celebrated the measure’s enactment.

Read more at Marijuana Moment

The Kratom Vendors Association (KVA) announced it has opened its virtual doors to offer its products and services specifically to kratom vendors in the United States. Founded by Stacey Lloyd in March 2022, the Kratom Vendors Association provides Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) compliance support to kratom vendors doing business in the United States. KVA offers exclusive membership, standard operating procedures (SOPs), one-on-one GMP compliance support from GMP compliance specialists, GMP training courses, and a GMP Certification Program.

“We assist kratom vendors with GMP compliance to ensure product quality and consumer safety,” explains Stacey Lloyd.

“I began auditing kratom vendors for the American Kratom Association. During my experience working with kratom vendors, I found there was a critical need for compliance support. There currently isn’t an organization that assists kratom vendors with becoming GMP compliant, so they have no place to turn for help.”

Read more at Yahoo Finance

The controversy over the Colorado General Assembly’s passage of a new bill related to fentanyl, which will allow individuals to be charged with a felony for possessing the drug even if they don’t realize it was mixed with another substance, overshadowed the legislature’s approval of another groundbreaking measure: Senate Bill 22-120, also known as Regulation of Kratom Processors, the first major bill in the state to focus on kratom, a popular organic substance of Southeast Asian origin.

Governor Jared Polis, who asked the federal Food and Drug Administration to lift its public-health warning on kratom while a member of Congress, is expected to sign Regulation of Kratom Processors — and that’s good news for Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy for the American Kratom Association, an advocacy organization that pushed hard for the measure’s approval.

Keep reading at Westword.com