![](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-94.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\u201cIt really comes down to your evaluation of a harm reduction tool. Other than that, it\u2019s a freedom issue.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n By Ben Adlin, Filter<\/strong><\/p>\n Dozens of legislatures across the United States are currently weighing how to regulate or ban kratom, a plant with mild opioid-like properties that\u2019s indigenous to Southeast Asia. It\u2019s\u00a0used by<\/a>\u00a0people around the world who attest to its abilities to elevate mood, boost energy, relieve pain and\u2014perhaps most crucially in an era of mass overdose deaths\u2014treat symptoms of opioid withdrawal and sometimes replace opioids.<\/p>\n The flurry of state-level scrutiny follows efforts in recent years by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)<\/a> and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to ban the drug, which remains unregulated at the federal level.<\/p>\n A majority of states either have no current regulations or very limited rules, such as an age limit. Six states, however\u2014Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin\u2014already have kratom bans, as do a handful of local jurisdictions.<\/p>\n Some states have now proposed further bans on kratom products. Mississippi is one, although lawmakers there have seen multiple such bills fail in recent years. Louisiana lawmakers have also prefiled prohibition legislation.<\/p>\n For Mac Haddow, a lobbyist and senior fellow on public policy at the American Kratom Association, what could be a crisis is an opportunity. He\u2019s confident that advocates can defeat the Louisiana bill, for one thing, and he can rattle off a laundry list of other bills in play around the country. He spoke to\u00a0Filter<\/i>\u00a0from Vienna, Austria, where he was presenting at the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really comes down to your evaluation of a harm reduction tool. Other than that, it\u2019s a freedom issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In recent years, nearly 30 U.S. states have introduced or adopted kratom legislation, whether to ban kratom products outright or to more proactively regulate existing markets.<\/p>\n Haddow said he\u2019s currently keeping a close eye on legislation either introduced or expected in states including Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to remember them as best I can,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n His broader message is a familiar one in the drug policy reform world: He argues that state and federal kratom policies should be guided by available science and common sense, rather than backlash and misunderstanding.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really comes down to your evaluation of a harm reduction tool,\u201d Haddow said. \u201cOther than that, it\u2019s a freedom issue.\u201d<\/p>\n The past decade has seen a rush of U.S. political activity around a substance that once flew under the radar. In 2014, the FDA banned the import and export of kratom as a dietary substance. Two years later, the DEA attempted to add kratom to Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act, effectively outlawing it completely. While DEA officials reversed that position after public opposition, the FDA has continued to urge against the use of kratom and insist it has no therapeutic value.<\/p>\n Law enforcement groups have backed many of the state-level bans. In Alabama, for example, which outlawed the substance in 2016, authorities\u00a0reportedly<\/a> claimed that kratom products were 13 times stronger than morphine.<\/p>\n Haddow says popular fears around kratom are overblown\u2014and misplaced. He attributes the recent turbulence to a 2010 report out of Sweden that linked kratom products to nine deaths over a 12-month period.<\/p>\n The problem, Haddow said, is that kratom didn\u2019t\u00a0cause<\/i>\u00a0those deaths. \u201cWe\u2019ve investigated every single autopsy report we can get our hands on. We\u2019ve found not one that was kratom only.\u201d<\/p>\n The deaths in Sweden were all associated with a single kratom product, a herbal blend called Krypton, which was sold online in Europe. While the FDA cites those deaths as linked to kratom, Haddow noted that researchers behind the original report have since said the deaths were likely caused by an adulterant, O-desmethyltramadol.<\/p>\n It\u2019s reminiscent of the so-called \u201cEVALI scare\u201d of 2019, when U.S. health authorities raised the alarm about serious and fatal lung injuries associated with vaping. Initially the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and some state and local officials sought to blame<\/a>\u00a0vaping products in general, feeding into an existing panic over youth nicotine vaping. The injuries were eventually linked instead to unregulated THC vape cartridges adulterated with vitamin E acetate.<\/p>\n Every death or serious injury Haddow has seen linked to kratom, he said, has been the result of either contamination or combining kratom with other drugs, such as opioids or benzodiazepines.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s true that if you have an adulterated kratom product that you are going to have adverse health events,\u201d he said. Likewise, if people are using kratom in an attempt to replace opioids, it would follow that some people who die of opioid-involved overdose might have kratom in their systems.<\/p>\n Similar points were being made by health experts even as states moved to ban kratom years ago. \u201cDirect kratom overdoses from the life-threatening respiratory depression that usually occurs with opioid overdoses have not been reported,\u201d Oliver Grundmann, a clinical professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Florida, told\u00a0VICE<\/i><\/a>\u00a0at the time of the Alabama ban.<\/p>\n Kratom itself poses fairly benign health risks, Haddow said, most commonly nausea. Serious side effects are rare and typically occur at high doses. When consumed in its plant form (often in teas, powders or capsules), kratom has lower concentrations of its two main active ingredients, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, than some refined products that have recently become available. Think coffee beans versus processed caffeine, or cannabis flower versus distilled THC.<\/p>\n For some people, discontinuing regular kratom use may result in relatively mild\u00a0withdrawal symptoms<\/a>. Certain studies, some of which Haddow would dispute, have additionally associated kratom with side effects such as agitation, cardiac problems, hallucinations, weight loss, insomnia and seizures\u2014yet even those found that such harms most frequently occur at high doses or when used alongside other drugs.<\/p>\n The American Kratom Association is hoping to get ahead of the controversy as public awareness of kratom grows and lawmakers feel pressure to act. In addition to trying to combat what it sees as misinformation, the organization has spent the past few years working to pass state-level legislation that would set basic guardrails around kratom while ensuring it remains available to adult consumers.<\/p>\n The model legislation backed by the group is called the Kratom Consumer Protection Act (KCPA). Broadly speaking, it sets a minimum age of 18 to buy kratom products (though some states have made it 21), prohibits the addition of adulterants or \u201cany synthetic or artificially elevated alkaloid content,\u201d requires that manufacturers register with the proper regulatory authority and creates standards around packaging and labeling.<\/p>\n \u201cLabeling is critically important,\u201d Haddow said. That means not only what\u2019s in the product but also who processed and packaged it.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the most important things on the label is who manufactured it and what their address is, because too many kratom products today have no identifiers,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf you have an adverse event, you don\u2019t know who to report it to\u2014or report on\u2014because there\u2019s no information that\u2019s available.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, seven states have already enacted some form of KCPA: Arizona, Colorado<\/a>, Georgia, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah. Lawmakers in Virginia and West Virginia, meanwhile, just passed their own versions of KCPA bills earlier this year. Similar legislation is also making its way through the Texas legislature.<\/p>\n In Missouri, a bill to regulate kratom passed the legislature last year but was vetoed by Gov. Mike Parson (R). Haddow said he has a meeting scheduled with the governor and his staff, \u201cand we\u2019re going to work through whatever their objections were.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to answer most of that,\u201d he continued, \u201cand we\u2019re going to clarify that they\u2019re going to sign the bill that passed last time, so that\u2019ll be run again.\u201d<\/p>\n Georgia already has a form of KCPA in place, but lawmakers introduced a ban this session. Haddow and the American Kratom Association pushed back, and the bill has since been amended. Haddow hopes the final version might even strengthen the KCPA.<\/p>\n Haddow said his group is also on the cusp of helping overturn a kratom ban on the books in Vermont. \u201cWe petitioned the state of Vermont, the Department of Health, and they approved our petition to reform the drug rule in Vermont on March 1,\u201d he said. The state must next go through rulemaking, although officials are holding off until the end of the session to see whether lawmakers pass a regulation bill that\u2018s pending in the legislature.<\/p>\n Similar efforts are underway in Wisconsin, Rhode Island and Arkansas. In Indiana, lawmakers are currently considering legislation to repeal a ban and pass a version of the KCPA.<\/p>\n \u2014 Like other drug policy reform advocates, Haddow has his complaints about stubborn, evidence-blind law enforcement associations and reactive politicians, quick to attack what they don\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n When it comes to Alabama? \u201cThat\u2019s just a tough state,\u201d he said. \u201cThe district attorneys association was responsible for getting kratom banned in the first place, and they\u2019re just locked and loaded against kratom. They don\u2019t care about facts. They don\u2019t care about any data. I think if the Savior Himself came down and said, \u2018Kratom is good,\u2019 they wouldn\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the holdouts, the American Kratom Association and other advocates have had some remarkable successes in winning over politicians. Reform efforts around more mainstream drugs, such as cannabis or psychedelics, have in some cases spent decades struggling to overcome entrenched stigma and stereotypes.<\/p>\n \u201cI tell my wife it\u2019s because I\u2019m a great lobbyist, but the truth is, it\u2019s because [kratom]\u2019s less well known,\u201d Haddow said. \u201cThe only thing I have to fight, and the AKA advocates have to fight, is googling kratom. State lawmakers don\u2019t know what it is, and so they google it.\u201d<\/p>\n Haddow noted that kratom only entered the U.S. in significant amounts in the 1970s, after soldiers encountered the plant during the Vietnam War. Compared with many other drugs, there has been far less time for stigma against kratom to embed itself in US culture and politics.<\/p>\n And unlike other drugs, despite that 2016 DEA effort, kratom still isn\u2019t covered under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Haddow wants it to stay that way. While kratom should be regulated for safety and quality and kept out of the hands of children, he said, adults should be trusted to make the decision to use it.<\/p>\n \u201cI spoke with an FDA official today, and he was telling me that one of the biggest concerns the FDA has about kratom is that people are sitting at home and self-medicating with it, and they\u2019re trying to get off opioids,\u201d he said from Vienna. \u201cI think that strips people not only of their freedom but of their dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n If people are self-medicating at home for this purpose, he continued, with a substance that has a low risk profile, \u201cI want people to have access to that.\u201d<\/p>\n This article was originally published by\u00a0Filter<\/a>, an online magazine covering drug use, drug policy and human rights through a harm reduction lens. Follow Filter on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Twitter<\/a>, or sign up for its\u00a0newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n South Carolina Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill\u2019s Fate In Question, But Supporters Are Making A Last-Ditch Push<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Wikimedia\/ThorPorre<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Lawmakers In Dozens Of States Are Weighing Bills To Regulate Or Ban Kratom<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really comes down to your evaluation of a harm reduction tool. Other than that, it\u2019s a freedom issue.\u201d By Ben Adlin, Filter Dozens of legislatures across the United States are currently weighing how to regulate or ban kratom, a plant with mild opioid-like properties that\u2019s indigenous to Southeast Asia.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":63175,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63174"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63176,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63174\/revisions\/63176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nMarijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills<\/a> in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters<\/a> pledging at least $25\/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don\u2019t miss any developments.<\/strong>
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-93.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/a>
\nLearn more about our marijuana bill tracker<\/a> and become a supporter on Patreon<\/a> to get access.
\n\u2014<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\n
\nRead More: Lawmakers In Dozens Of States Are Weighing Bills To Regulate Or Ban Kratom<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"