u/Majestic-Ad2805

I haven't seen this discussed amid the recent surge of fear surrounding Michigan's current ban bill (HB 5537). This KCPA of sorts was sent to a committee in June, and the ban has been stuck in the mud since March.

I don't know if this necessarily means we are closer to being in the clear - the chief sponsor of the ban is also a co-sponsor of this KCPA - but I found it interesting that this bill had more recent movement than the potential ban we are all fearing.

I highly recommend attending the webinar Monday as I am sure most of this (and more) will be covered but just some things I gleaned:

*The CA KCPA bill is going to have hearings in early June (AB1088). This bill is quite far along so it could very realistically pass the chambers soon.

*There is pending federal legislation quite far along that will force the FDA to rescind its import warning on kratom. This will have a big domino effect if it is signed into law.

*The current (took office this year) director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) seems interested in maintaining access to whole leaf kratom.

*The DEA's scheduling of 7OH is imminent and when this happens, the FDA is going to update their kratom webpage, among other things. The kratom section of the FDA website is fueling a lot of state ban attempts as we all know (I acknowledge scheduling of 7OH is not the desired outcome for all, but this is just a fact).

I am probably forgetting some things, but the bigger picture has some positive wrinkles to it that I had no idea about. AB1088 moving in particular is probably one of the most important data points of the whole year.

A little Minnesota victory lap, and sorry to belabor the point, but after all the doom-refreshing, I think we’ve earned one.

I’ve posted a few times now that Minnesota’s age-reg bill was doing well, and now it has officially been signed into law. At this point, the 2026 fight here is all but done. Minnesota did not go the ban route. It chose the 21+ regulation path instead.

This is hugely important.

For everyone who was worried about stealth moves, Schedule II nonsense, or a last-minute pivot toward prohibition, the actual outcome was the opposite: the regulation vehicle kept advancing openly, passed both chambers, made it to the Governor, and is now law.

And there’s more reason for cautious optimism: we’ve been told the sponsor has signaled to the AKA that their focus for 2027 is increased regulation working closely with the AKA. That is a whole different universe from “let’s criminalize the plant.”

So for now, Minnesota looks like a state where the question is no longer “ban or not ban,” but rather “what does smarter regulation look like from here?”

That is a very good place to be.

Not every state is giving us this kind of ending right now, so I’m going to enjoy this one. Minnesota, for 2026 at least, appears to be basically settled.