u/Kiheitai_Soutoku

The Governor and Department of Health will temporary place all kratom into schedule 1 for at least a year. There is a 14 day notice period. The propaganda is out in full force, they even made a website to discuss "risks and treatment options". This is all so disheartening.

https://www.mass.gov/news/governor-healey-takes-action-to-protect-young-people-and-residents-from-dangerous-kratom-products

AKA has an email chain you can sign, I hope everyone can do that at least! https://www.protectkratom.org/massachusetts

They posted an hour ago

"The American Kratom Association is working closely with DEA and HHS to clarify their position on the MP issue. HHS has reassured us that there is no intent to enforce any provision on natural Kratom leaf products.

We are hopeful that they will include that clarification in the scheduling notice"

So we will see what happens at the webinar tomorrow. I struggle to believe the AKA does not have a legislative team who would have caught this earlier. No matter your opinion on the AKA or Mac, the AKA is a big organization that surely scoured these documents the moment they were posted. There must have been some comments or changes internally, or they were hiding this issue from us which I do not believe is the case without more evidence.

Regardless, still seems like the intent is not to schedule leaf which is good.

North Carolina Governor Josh Stein tweeted earlier

"Tomorrow the House is considering a bill that aims to eliminate the Wild West that is North Carolina's THC market. For some reason the bill also legalizes kratom, an opioid-like substance sometimes called gas station heroin, and fails to include any meaningful age restrictions. The legislature should be focused on creating a safe and well-regulated adult THC market that protects kids."

Obviously things in this post are incorrect, and I do not see it as a good sign for kratom regulation being approved. Please keep advocating especially if you live in NC!

Edit: As far as specific advocacy, I think the current bill does not ban kratom, but there might still be a push to add that language back. I would reach out to state reps and senators and I'll try to narrow down contacts tomorrow.

Governor just announced a scheduling of 7 to conform with the DEA, and then for some reason decided to go further and in a separate executive order has banned the possession or sale of any kratom products starting on August 5th. He is calling a special legislative session to "determine the enforcement mechanism" for these bans which starts in September

Edit: yes I accidentally spelled Dakota wrong sorry didn't see

So another Massachusetts Board of Health, Peabody, banned all kratom today. They specifically said they were moved by the negative testimonies in making their decision. KDA is all over this state attending virtually and telling their sob stories. Do we have anyone here from MA?

I know there is a policy to not discuss local hearings in advance for fear of alerting anti kratom people, but it sounds like they are already there anyway.

Mac confirmed today that the California bill is dead for this year. It was pulled because the Senate agriculture chair was planning to amend the bill to ban all kratom, so the House sponsor decided not to even want to send it over. Unfortunately that means nothing is likely to change until next session. I'm not 100 percent sure on how kratom is doing in CA, are you guys allowed to purchase it or has everything started to run dry?

In the latest Recap with Mac episode, Mac confirmed he has been reached out to by 60 minutes as they are going to be doing a kratom story. He said it's very preliminary so to not expect it until the fall. 60 minutes has also reached out to Patti Wheeler and Wendy Cahmberlin, both anti kratom advocates. Wendy is the leader of KDA.

With this and the recent New York times article, kratom is about to be in the spotlight harder than ever before. I'm sure everyone has noticed all the news stories popping up.

I think next year, we are probably not going to run into too many legislators who do not know what kratom is, but I worry they will be informed based on sensational news headlines. Mac did also say he's being reached out to by alot of news agencies so hopefully we will get some positive press as well.

What I'll say for everyone here, I am in a kratom advocacy group in South Carolina. We managed to reach out to 2 local news organizations so far and given interviews and the stories have come out very positive. I would challenge anyone here who wants to keep kratom legal to try and do the same.

The days of kratom going under the radar are over, and I expect almost every state to have some form of kratom legislation pending in 2027. We desperately need federal regulation.

As I'm sure alot of you may know from prior announcements, Georgia will be having their first blue ribbon subcommittee meeting tomorrow. Georgia defeated a ban this year, and to compensate the ban sponsor, Rep. Townsend, they agreed to set up this committe during the off season to study kratom's impact on youth.

​

With the primary kratom ban sponsor as the chairman, needless to say the line up of speakers tomorrow is not great. He has curated a lot of anti kratom speakers including several rehab clinics and Andrew Kolodny. For those unaware, Kolodny is infamous in chronic pain communities as he serves as an expert witness in many pain medicine lawsuits. He is a grifter through and through and knows nothing about kratom. But as opioid prescriptions are drying up, he needs to make money somewhere else. Looks like he has chosen kratom.

​

Anyway, the public may not even get a chance to speak, but a big advocate presence will send a message to the others on the committee. If you can attend please do so, I believe the AKA might even be handing out shirts. It is scheduled for tomorrow from 9am-12pm. It is in room 415 of the Paul D. Coverdell Legislative Office Building in Atlanta.

The de facto kratom ban by the Philadelphia City Council will have a hearing this Thursday at 10 am in Room 400 at City Hall. If you are a consumer and are able to attend please do so! You so not have to say much, but these council members need to see that there is a large consumer base in the city who are helped by natural kratom.

The bill is written as a regulation bill, but it requires kratom to be approved by the FDA using their drug approval process. This is not how supplements/botanicals are treated by the FDA. They are governed under the DSHEA act, where the FDA has a burden to show harm before removing the product from the shelves.

Please let the council know that this bill does not regulate natural kratom, but bans it entirely.

So I do not have official information to share on hand, but I have heard that the de facto kratom ban will have another hearing this upcoming Thursday. I am making this post without the official time and place, because if we don't find out until Wednesday, that is just not enough time to get the word out. I want people to be aware and ready for the official announcement.

For those unaware, the bill is designed like a regulation bill, however there is key wording regarding FDA approval that does ban all types of kratom. Essentially, the bill is requiring any kratom sold to be approved by the FDA, but it references the drug approval process which kratom will never pass. The FDA does not approve dietary supplements. Any muti vitamins, fish oil, ashwaganda, turmeric, etc. are all legally sold under the DSHEA act. The FDA has the burden under this act to show a dietary supplement is harmful in order to remove it from the market place.

So the bill in Philly while written as regulation, will ban all kratom in the city. At the hearing last week we did have good testimony, but we were missing a big outpouring of consumers. The council members seemed to be more dismissive of lobbyists, as they see them as just advocating to get paid. I really think if enough consumers show up, we can get this language changed.

The newest strategy seems to be these local bans, and Philadelphia is a major city. If we don't defeat this one, I'm worried of the precedent it sets.

Our Bill, HB 4641, was amended last week to leave natural leaf legal in the state. Today, it was amended again and there is no longer that exception. So as is, the bill will make sale of kratom in any form illegal in South Carolina.

The sponsor of this new amendment was very misinformed. He claimed we have no science about kratom, and that the FDA is moving to schedule it, both of which are untrue. I'm honestly shocked that these reps do not know the history of kratom at the federal level, but here we are. It sounds like he googled kratom for 10 minutes last night and made his decision. They also amended the bill to make possession schedule one, however the sponsor of that one stated it was only synthetics that would be scheduled. The language does not read that way to me, but that was the stated intent on the floor.

The SC legislative session ends May 14th and this bill still needs a final reading in the house tomorrow. That means, we have 6 days in the Senate to either stop this bill or get it amended. I have been told these are good senators to reach out to, but honestly if you are able you should reach out to them all.

Sen. Hutto 803-212-6140 https://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?code=0912499891

Sen. Verdin (803) 212-6250

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?code=1874999775

Sen. Tedder (803) 212-6132

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?code=1811931601

Sen. Ott (803) 212-6140

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?code=1433096420

Sen. Verdin, Tedder, and Hutto are all on the Senate Medical Affairs committee which we believe the bill will go to. Sen. Ott spoke with one of us and was initially for a full ban, but has expressed interest in a strict KCPA like Utah.

For the remaining Senators I will not list all contacts, but the website is very easy to navigate and you can send them messages through it, without having to email.

List of all Senators

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?chamber=S

If you are in SC you can visit https://www.scstatehouse.gov/legislatorssearch.php to find the Senator for your district. Calls from constituents will matter most.

I feel tricked and backstabbed by some of these Reps. Just last week they were posting about knowing the difference between synthetics and natural leaf, and even amended the bill to reflect this. I do not know if someone got to them over the weekend, or if this was always their plan to have us let up on our advocacy.

Either way, the fight is not over and we can win the Senate. Thank you to everyone who is able to reach out.