Author: Matthew

AUSTIN, Texas — Kratom seems to be popping up more at mom-and-pop health shops, convenience stores and vape shops.

These Kratom pills, which are in marked or unmarked packages, claim to offer benefits like more energy and anxiety reduction. The substance comes from Mitragyna speciosa tree which is native to Southeast Asia.

“Many people use it like as a conventional food. These people found it helped them to increase their energy and to increase focus,” said Mac Haddow, a Senior Fellow on Public Policy for the American Kratom Association. 

Now, the State Senate is pushing forward with a bill that would protect Texans by regulating the substance.

Keep reading at KVUE ABC

The Florida Legislature’s second recent endeavor in regulating kratom, an herbal extract that creates effects similar to stimulants and sedatives, won unanimous approval in the House of Representatives on Thursday and is on its way to the Senate.

HB 179, named the “Florida Kratom Consumer Protection Act,” will establish the minimum age to purchase kratom at 21 years old where there isn’t already a set legal age.

Supporters of the bill argue that kratom has the potential to be addictive, while opponents say it is a healthier alternative to most recreational drugs. With no federal legislation on the substance as more research emerges, states are left to draft their own regulations.

Keep reading at wuft.org

Florida lawmakers are moving forward with a bipartisan plan to regulate the use of kratom, an herbal supplement that causes opioid- and stimulant-like effects.

Florida lawmakers are moving forward with a bipartisan plan to regulate the use of kratom, an herbal supplement that causes opioid- and stimulant-like effects.

“We don’t want anybody to spike it or to cut it,” said state Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota). “We want an unadulterated, pure form going to the consumer at the end of the day.”

The Florida Kratom Consumer Protection Act would ban kratom manufacturers and sellers from mixing the substance with illegal drugs and synthetic compounds. It would also set the age limit to purchase and consume kratom at 21 years old. The measure has received unanimous support in both the House and Senate as it moves through the committee process.

Right now, there are no state or federal kratom regulations.

Keep reading at Health News Florida

Most states regulate kratom. Six prohibit it. Sarasota is the only Florida county to ban the substance outright.

A bill to regulate the sale of kratom, a consumable plant that affects some of the same brain receptors as morphine, is heading to a full vote by the House.

Members of the House Commerce Committee voted unanimously for a measure (HB 179) to ban the sale of kratom to people under 21.

The bill, titled the “Florida Kratom Consumer Protection Act,” would also define the substance for the first time in Florida law and authorize the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services to test and verify the purity of kratom products.

Read more at floridapolitics.com

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Whether in a nearby gas station or your local smoke shop, you’ve likely seen kratom on the shelves of one store or another.

The plant, native to Southeast Asia, has similar effects on the brain as opioids, according to doctors. Some even believe it may be the solution to the opioid epidemic. But folks like state Representative Gabe Firment hold a different view.

“You know it’s a very dangerous drug and it’s not regulated at all. In fact, you know, we had a young man killed by a kratom overdose here in Grant parish and that’s really what prompted the interest at the local level,” said Rep. Firment (R).

Keep reading at MSN

Whenever Jonathan feels a craving for methamphetamine, he turns to kratom. Each time, the 41-year-old from Colorado will take 3 milligrams of kratom extract and “toss and wash”—mix the extract into a liquid, and “chug for dear life.”

Jonathan (who requested omission of his last name due to privacy concerns) is 20 years in recovery from a methamphetamine addiction. It hasn’t always been easy. Five years ago, he went through a terrible period of stress which caused an intense desire to use again. It was through personal research that he came across kratom as a potential cure to his withdrawal symptoms. “After my first dose, something switched,” he said. Since then, it has played a key role in helping him manage his methamphetamine cravings and relapsing.

Keep reading at The Daily Beast

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The General Assembly has unanimously adopted Virginia’s first regulations for kratom, a controversial opioid alternative sold in stores across the state.

The Indonesian herb, sold in gas stations, head shops, and online pharmacies, has been found to help with pain relief and opioid withdrawal symptoms — but the FDA has also issued warnings about the dangers it may pose.

Now, the state is set to adopt bare-bones regulations on the product, banning the sale of kratom to anyone under the age of 21 and requiring manufacturers to add a label reading: “This product may be harmful to your health, has not been evaluated by the FDA, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.“

Still, Sage Giles, a frequent kratom user and Virginia resident, said she welcomes the new law.

Read the article at WRIC.com

ATLANTA — At the state Capitol, a bill to ban an unregulated herb that some say is deadly is being tabled for now.

Kratom is sold as capsules, powder, and liquid in gas stations and smoke shops across Georgia.

Some say the herb has helped ease their pain and anxiety.

Others blame kratom for contributing to the deaths of their family members.

State legislators say they will revise the bill for future consideration.

Back in October, Channel 2 Action News talked to a family from metro Atlanta whose 23-year-old son died after using kratom.

Ethan Pope’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of OPMS Black Liquid Kratom.

Ethan died after taking the popular, but controversial, herbal supplement.

Keep reading at wsbtv.com

A controversial and unregulated supplement that users say works wonders for anxiety, addiction and other maladies — but which some health officials call dangerous — could soon be taken off the shelves in Georgia.

What’s happening: State Rep. Rick Townsend (R-Brunswick) today will present his legislation to add kratom, an herbal supplement made from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree, to the state’s list of controlled substances. 

• The legislation would essentially put kratom on par with hallucinogens and heroin — drugs with a high potential for abuse and no medicinal value, according to the law. 
• Georgia law currently prohibits kratom sales to people under the age of 18. 

Catch up quick: Sold in health stores, gas stations, CBD shops and online, kratom can make people feel upbeat and peppy if they take small doses. At higher doses, the supplement can have an opioid-like effect.

Read more at Axios Atlanta

A Livingston Parish Council proposal to ban the sale of kratom, an herbal extract that has prompted heated debate in the community about whether it is a danger to constituents, did not make it out of committee for a formal introduction Thursday night.

A motion made by Council member Shane Mack, who proposed the ordinance, to introduce the law for a public hearing and eventual vote in two weeks was not seconded, halting efforts by some local officials to prohibit the product’s proliferation in the parish.

“The future plan is to continue researching,” Mack said after the ordinance introduction failed. “And [continue] the discussion on whether the sale of kratom should be banned or regulated in Livingston Parish. I would like to learn more about the benefits and hazards of selling kratom in Livingston Parish.”

Keep reading at theadvocate.com

Widely available for purchase primarily in smoke shops around the Kansas City area, kratom — an herbal supplement made from leaves grown in Southeast Asia — is federally unregulated. Users claim kratom relieves chronic pain, treats symptoms of mood disorders and mitigates the effects of opioid withdrawal.

Kansas lawmakers are considering the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, which, if passed, would define the supplement as a food product and end what Rep. John Eplee, an Atchison Republican and physician, called the “wild, wild west” of an unregulated industry he said begs to be regulated.

Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy at the American Kratom Association, said the legislation would protect consumers from dangerously adulterated, or kratom products that are contaminated with non-kratom substances, such as fentanyl, and mislabeled kratom products.

Read the story from the Kansas City Star

Around 1 a.m. on April 17, 2021, Laci Kanada finished taking a bath and found her two-year-old daughter had stopped breathing, police reports say.

She rushed her to the bathroom and let the water run over body, trying to wake her, and attempted CPR, but it was too late: Elizabeth Kanada-Martin was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the reports say.

A coroner’s report says the girl died from poisoning after ingesting combined drugs: “An extraordinarily high, lethal level” of tianeptine, an antidepressant drug that acts like an opioid — and the herbal extract kratom. Described in the report as a “psychoactive botanical substance,” the coroner wrote that kratom “affects the same opioid brain receptors as morphine.”

Keep reading at nola.com

Biloxi Councilman Robert Deming III was the subject of a DEA investigation Thursday as agents raided his home and businesses that sell kratom. The investigation into the stores Deming owns has been going on for about a year and a half, Chris Bell, resident agent in charge of the DEA in Gulfport said, and agents were looking for documents inside his home and shops in Biloxi and Ocean Springs. “We had complaints at the businesses in and around the Gulf Coast of products that were sold and having ill effects on people consuming them,” Bell said.

Deming has not been arrested or detained. The DEA said the target of the raid was synthetic cannabinoid oils and edibles. Kratom supplements have long polarized the U.S. and are outlawed in some places. For the past five years, Mississippi lawmakers have tried to ban the use and sale of kratom.

Read more at sunherald.com

Kratom has become a cause for concern in Louisiana, with two parishes banning it and two others considering a ban for fear of more drug addiction.

Here’s what kratom is and why it alarms some: 

What is kratom? 

Kratom is a plant native to southeast Asia and is colloquially known as thang, kakuam, thom, ketum and biak, according to a 2020 fact sheet produced by the U.S. Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration. 

What does it do? 

Kratom leaves contain both mitragynine and 7-hydroxymytragynine, chemicals that can cause psychotic activity, according to the fact sheet. 

Some users say it relieves pain. Consuming the leaves can lead to stimulant effects in lower doses and sedative effects in higher doses, as well as to a range of psychotic symptoms. It also can make a user dependent on the plant, the drug fact sheet said.

Keep reading at nola.com

Jan. 26—The raid of multiple CBD and kratom stores in Mississippi and North Carolina on Thursday is part of a year-and-a-half-long U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency investigation that was sparked by complaints of illness after taking products sold there.

DEA agents raided six Candy Shop & Kratom stores across Mississippi, three in Hattiesburg and three on the Mississippi Coast, along with two stores in North Carolina. They are owned by Biloxi City Councilman Robert Deming III.

His home in the upscale Taylor Oaks Subdivision also was raided. An agent confirmed to the Sun Herald that Deming, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. House seat in 2020, has not been arrested or detained.

Read the story at sunherald.com

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) – Kratom and tianeptine could find themselves off the shelves in Mississippi.

State Representative Donnie Scoggin is working to pass House Bill 364, making both schedule one, making it illegal to sell them.

“Once it’s illegal to sell, then, hopefully, we could get it off the gas store shelves and make it a whole lot harder to get,” said Scoggin.

Many people in Jones County, including Ann Marie Brahm, have strong feelings against Kratom due to personal experiences.

“The effects of Kratom will forever affect me and I didn’t even take it,” said Brahm.

Brahm said her husband killed himself after taking a significant amount of Kratom.

“Anytime I go into a store and see a big glass case of Kratom, I just want to smash the glass,” said Brahm.

Read more at WLBT3

Colorado’s wild west days of kratom — an unregulated and controversial herbal supplement — are coming to an end.

Driving the news: The Polis administration is proposing a robust set of rules — akin to the regulation of marijuana — that the kratom industry says would put retailers out of business and leave consumers without access, John discovered.

• The $1.5 million regulatory scheme would impose strict manufacturing, testing and labeling requirements, and ban sales of vaporizers, concentrates, food additives and certain gummy edibles. The existing prohibition on sales to anyone under age 21 would remain in effect.

Yes, but: The proposed rules expressly permit the production and sale of kratom, which currently resides in a legal gray area.

Keep reading at MSN

After two Louisiana parishes banned kratom, Livingston leaders are now also considering whether to prohibit the unregulated herbal extract.

Officials are mulling whether they want to ban or regulate the product that some fear could fuel addiction or worsen the effects of other drugs if they are combined. It is part of a larger discourse gripping Louisiana, where kratom has already been outlawed in two parishes. One state lawmaker plans to file a measure to ban the extract in the upcoming Legislative session. 

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration calls kratom a “drug and chemical of concern” that has been found to provide an energy boost at low doses but sedative, opioid-like effects at higher ones. While the product is not regulated under the Controlled Substances Act, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved kratom for any medical use.

Read more at nola.com

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A new bill filed in the General Assembly would create new regulations for Kratom, a controversial narcotic, keeping it legal in the state but imposing restrictions on its sale.

Kratom, marketed as an “herbal supplement,” is derived from the leaves of a tree native to Indonesia, and has become popular in recent years as a treatment for pain and an alternative to opioids. But the plant has also invited controversy and warnings from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it could pose dangers of its own.7 men arrested in online predator operation in Fairfax County

The drug is currently unregulated in Virginia, meaning it can be sold over the counter at gas stations, smoke shops, and dedicated kratom shops with names such as “CRAZY VAPOR KRATOM CBD THC VAPE STORE” — a recently opened shop in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom.

Keep reading at ABC 8 News

A north shore senator is taking aim at kratom, an herbal supplement that’s been flagged as dangerous by two federal agencies, and wants to see it banned in Louisiana.

In small doses, the substance derived from a tree native to Southeast Asia, acts as a mild stimulant that users say can increase alertness and energy, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration fact sheet.

But kratom, which is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, can also cause psychotic symptoms and lead to addiction, according to the DEA, which lists it as a “drug and chemical of concern.”

Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, said he’s heard from parents whose teenage children have gotten sick from kratom, which he says is sold everyone. “It’s hard not to find it,” he said.

Read the full story at nola.com