| The American Kratom Association Calls on the Georgia Legislature to Protect Georgia Kratom Consumers and Retailers by Fixing New Kratom Law
The American Kratom Association (AKA) welcomes part of the new Kratom Consumer Protection Act signed by the Governor that strengthens some of the product standards and labeling requirements that are needed. The AKA strongly decries the political hijacking of the bill by trial attorneys who orchestrated the replacement of a state regulatory agency to oversee kratom products with criminal penalties targeting Georgia businesses that Representative Townsend (R-St. Simons) championed for his top-dollar trial attorney contributors.
“Representative Townsend strongly condemned the previously passed Kratom Consumer Protection Act because there was no assigned state agency to regulate kratom, and the AKA agreed with him on that,” commented Mac Haddow, Senior Fellow with the AKA. “But his bill as passed has no assigned state agency to regulate kratom – only making his top-dollar trial attorney campaign contributors richer at the expense of Georgia kratom businesses.”
HB 181 will not be effective until December 31, 2024, and the AKA intends to work with legislators in the 2025 legislative session to restore effective oversight of kratom products to protect the citizens of Georgia rather than top-dollar campaign contributors. The only enforcement in HB 181 is for local law enforcement officers to oversee kratom sales to minors, and the rest are criminal penalties, including on retailers who do not have the resources to independently verify every product they sell meets the highly technical standards for kratom products outlined in HB 181.
“There is only one beneficiary of Representative Townsend’s kratom bill – other than his own political campaign account – and that is a group of trial attorneys who want to sue kratom manufacturers and retailers for their own profit,” Haddow concluded. “The Georgia citizens who purchase kratom for their health and well-being are less protected today than they were before this legislation was passed.
You can read the press release here.
Rhode Island S.B. 2704 Health and Human Services Committee Hearing
Rhode Island’s Senate Health and Human Services Committee convened on, Thursday May 2, to discuss SB 2704, the Kratom Consumer Protection Act (KCPA). The AKA has worked with key legislators to pass the KCPA for the past 3 years to overturn the ban initially imposed by the Department of Health based on the FDA’s promise that kratom would be banned at the federal level.
In my testimony, I encouraged legislators to not allow Rhode Island to continue being stuck in the mud on kratom policy. There is new data from hundreds of peer reviewed articles on kratom that shows it is not harmful. The findings of the FDA’s recent Dose Finding Study were presented along with the FDA’s admission that they cannot support their original statement on kratom’s danger profile. The senators were urged to “look at the truth, look at the accurate data, and look forward.”
Testimony given by Claudia Morandi, Director of The Doctor Patient Forum, reiterated the damage that Rhode Island’s kratom ban has had on its constituents. Morandi testified that , “kratom helps with pain … it’s time to lift the ban on kratom. People are suffering. Overdoses have never been higher. We have a continued failed war on drugs. If doctors are not going to prescribe full agonist opioids, let these people have some type of relief.”
Because of ongoing negotiations between the sponsors of the KCPA and the Governor’s office, the committee voted unanimously to “hold the bill for further study. “ That is a procedure that will allow for a substitute bill to be presented (known as “Sub A”) that will then be subject to a vote of the Committee.
You can watch the full hearing here.
Rankin County, Mississippi, Asks Residents to Report Any Kratom Products Being Sold Following Fatal Car Crash
In Rankin County, Mississippi, a driver fatally crashed his vehicle in the early morning of January 19th. Toxicology reports show, what the authorities call, “a significant quantity of mitragynine” in his bloodstream at the time of the accident. Therefore, authorities are attributing the cause of the crash to the driver being “under the influence” of kratom. Prompted by the accident, authorities have begun asking residents “to remain vigilant and report any sightings of Kratom products or its derivatives being sold in stores.”
Kratom was banned in Rankin County in 2022 based on the FDA’s pronouncement that kratom products are addictive and dangerous. This new action appears to be an escalation of their blind trust in the FDA. Because we now have proof that not only has the FDA never had the data to justify their attack on kratom, as they stated to a judge in refusing to participate in a Hearing that would have taken place on February 8, 2024, but they now have data that supports leaf kratom being safe at all dose levels. If authorities want to continue to put their blind trust in the FDA, then they are going to have to repeal bans that the FDA themselves could not justify.
You can read the policy briefing on the FDA’s Admission on Kratom Danger here.
You can read the policy briefing on the FDA’s Dose Finding Study here.
You can read the full article here. |
