Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have filed a bill meant to protect consumer access to kratom and prevent adverse administrative actions against the natural substance, which has been used as an opioid alternative and to mitigate withdrawal symptoms.<\/p>\n
The Federal Clarity for Kratom Consumers Act\u2014sponsored by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI)\u2014would prevent the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from imposing requirements for kratom that are more restrictive than allowable under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDAC).<\/p>\n
It further stipulates that the the department \u201ccould not treat kratom, or any product derived from or containing kratom, as an adulterated dietary supplement\u201d or \u201crequire kratom to undergo requirements for notification as a new dietary ingredient.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have heard countless stories of the benefits of kratom experienced by consumers across the country, including veterans, law enforcement officials, and everyday American who credit kratom with saving their lives,\u201d Lee said in a press release circulated by the\u00a0 American Kratom Association (AKA) on Wednesday. \u201cThis legislation that we introduced today will be life-changing for these Americans. The [Food and Drug Administration] needs to fulfill its duty to protect consumers, not abuse their powers in ways the Congress never intended.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pocan said that \u201ckratom can be a harm reduction tool for those struggling with opioid dependency across the country\u2014it doesn\u2019t belong in our broken drug scheduling system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis legislation will prevent the criminalization of kratom consumers and distributors while promising scientific research is conducted,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Under the legislation, the HHS secretary would need to convene at least one public hearing to address the scientific data on the public health risks and benefits of the plant. The hearing would have to include input from \u201cleading scientific researchers\u201d and consider topics such as the number of Americans who use kratom, substance misuse potential and more.<\/p>\n HHS would be required to open a public docket for at least 30 days for people to weigh in ahead of the hearing.<\/p>\n Additionally, a \u201cKratom Research Task Force\u201d would be established under HHS in order to \u201ccoordinate kratom-related research conducted or supported by the Federal Government.\u201d<\/p>\n The task force would need to submit a report to Congress and the HHS secretary within 90 days of enactment, detailing \u201call federally-funded kratom-related research that has begun or been completed.\u201d Each quarter thereafter, the panel would need to update Congress on the status of kratom research, including an analysis.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Kratom Research Task Force shall convene public meetings with appropriate experts and stakeholders to increase public awareness concerning the current state of kratom-related research,\u201d the text of the bill says. The task force would be dissolved two years after submitting the initial report.<\/p>\n The main crux of the legislation<\/a> is about ensuring<\/a> that federal agencies don\u2019t unduly restrict access to the plant-based medicine. That includes by mandating that all HHS rulemaking on kratom complies with existing rules under FDAC.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Secretary may not issue, implement, or enforce an import alert for a kratom or kratom-derived product unless the Secretary determines that there is a history of such kratom or kratom-derived product being adulterated,\u201d another section states.<\/p>\n It also says that nothing about the federal legislation is intended to \u201cpreempt\u201d the laws of states, a growing number of which have enacted or considered measures to protect and regulate kratom access.<\/p>\n This is the first major piece of standalone, congressional kratom legislation to be introduced\u2014notably on a bipartisan and bicameral basis.<\/p>\n \u201cThe introduction of this legislation is a landmark victory for kratom consumers across the country,\u201d Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy at AKA, said.<\/p>\n \u201cResearch has shown kratom to have significantly less potential for harm than substances with a much higher safety and addiction profile and the responsible regulation of kratom products will open the door for continued research,\u201d he said. \u201cWe encourage the swift passage of this bill so that the millions of people who consume kratom every year will have these important protections in place.\u201d<\/p>\n Congress has addressed kratom issues in other ways. For example, the House included language in a spending bill report earlier this year that promotes research into the potential opioid alternative, though that was excluded for the final appropriations package<\/a> that was released this week.<\/p>\n AKA has focused much of its advocacy work on state-level regulations. One bill that the group worked on that was signed by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) this year provides a regulatory framework for the legal sale of kratom<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pocan, the House sponsor of this new congressional legislation, has been a particularly strong voice advocating for research, emphasizing its therapeutic potential.<\/p>\n At\u00a0a congressional hearing in May<\/a>, for example, he expressed appreciation for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) for funding research into the plant, stating that kratom has \u201chelped many people to get off of opioids.\u201d<\/p>\n The National Institutes on Health (NIH) also hosted a meeting this year to explore the therapeutic potential of the \u201ccontroversial tree,\u201d with an expert providing an overview of the science of kratom<\/a>\u00a0and what role it could play in mitigating the overdose crisis.<\/p>\n On the international level, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) decided last year\u00a0not to recommend that kratom be globally prohibited<\/a>\u00a0in a victory for activists.<\/p>\n While the decision was based on a scientific review of the risk of dependence, abuse potential and therapeutic applications of kratom, advocates touted the fact that about 80,000 people submitted comments to the panel,\u00a0sharing their perspectives and experiences<\/a>\u00a0with the plant-derived substance.<\/p>\n As it stands, kratom is not scheduled under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) or under international drug treaties to which the U.S. is a party. FDA has considered putting restrictions on the substance, but it has faced resistance and has been unable to do so at this point.<\/p>\n Some advocates suspected that, since the agency hasn\u2019t imposed a ban on kratom domestically, it would use the WHO convention as an opportunity to get prohibition enacted internationally, a move that the country would be compelled to comply with.<\/p>\n A bipartisan and bicameral duo of congressional lawmakers sent a letter to the secretary of HHS and the country\u2019s UN ambassador last year, imploring the officials to resist efforts<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0impose an international ban on kratom<\/a>.<\/p>\n As federal agencies have gone back and forth about the merits of scheduling kratom over recent years, there\u2019s been \u201cno conclusive evidence that would warrant the United States voting in favor of an international control of this substance,\u201d the lawmakers said.<\/p>\n In 2020, the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) asked the public to help identify research that specifically\u00a0looks at the risks and benefits of cannabinoids and kratom<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2020 separately\u00a0received more than one thousand comments concerning kratom<\/a>\u00a0as part of another public solicitation.<\/p>\n Read the text<\/a> of the congressional kratom legislation below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n North Carolina Governor Says There\u2019s \u2018Opportunity\u2019 To Legalize Medical Marijuana In 2023, Also Reiterating Support For Broader Decriminalization<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Wikimedia\/ThorPorre<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Bipartisan Congressional Lawmakers File First-Of-Its-Kind Bill To Protect Kratom<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have filed a bill meant to protect consumer access to kratom and prevent adverse administrative actions against the natural substance, which has been used as an opioid alternative and to mitigate withdrawal symptoms. The Federal Clarity for Kratom Consumers Act\u2014sponsored by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and CoryContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59697,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59696\/revisions\/59697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Bipartisan Congressional Lawmakers File First-Of-Its-Kind Bill To Protect Kratom<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"