A California bill that would have imposed regulations on kratom products was quietly shelved Thursday following a clash between advocacy groups focused on the burgeoning industry.
Kratom products are made from the leaves of a tree that grows in Southeast Asia, where it has long been chewed or drunk as a tea, and as it has grown in popularity around the world, greenish capsules, powders and extracts have begun appearing in vape and smoke shops across California.
Scientists are still learning about its complex effects. From stimulants to sedatives They come from compounds called alkaloids. Food and Drug Administration The agency warns against using kratom for medical purposes, stating that “it is not appropriate for use as a dietary supplement.” Reported side effects include seizures, vomiting, and cardiac problems. Kratom has also been implicated in a small number of overdose deaths, most of which also involve other drugs. analysis I discovered it.
A bill introduced by Rep. Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) would require kratom products to be registered with the state, require labels and warnings, and ban their sale to anyone under the age of 21.
Additionally, Assembly Bill 2365 would ban products that contain synthetic kratom alkaloids, as well as products where certain chemicals make up more than 1% of the alkaloid content.
That chemical is 7-hydroxymitragynine, also known as 7-OH, which is typically found in dried kratom leaves. Very low concentrationHowever, mitragynine, the more common alkaloid found in this plant, is also broken down in the human body to produce 7-OH.
The scientists Expressing Concerns Regarding its effects: Journal of Medical Toxicology He said 7-OH is “likely to be a major factor in kratom's addictive properties.” article The study, published in the journal Addiction Biology, states that 7-OH “should be considered the component of kratom with the greatest abuse potential.”
Kirsten Smith, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, said kratom leaves naturally contain very low concentrations of 7-OH, so products with much higher levels of 7-OH are “easily identifiable as being engineered and artificially made.”
“It's no longer a plant that has been used in nature,” Smith said, adding that he doesn't believe the synthetic 7-OH product is kratom at all.
The California bill has divided kratom advocacy groups. It was backed by the Global Kratom Coalition, whose executive director Matthew Rowe said kratom products should have the same alkaloid content as the natural plant that has been used for years. The coalition, which is joined by law enforcement agencies, also supported AB 2365.
Opponents included the American Kratom Association, which has opposed bans on kratom products nationwide and supported regulations in other states, and the Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust, which has called for research into 7-OH as an alternative to opioids for pain relief.
The American Kratom Association argued that the regulatory structure required by California's bill would be too expensive and that few companies would be able to afford the fees required. State officials estimated that regulating kratom under the bill could cost more than $4 million a year.
AB 2365 is “pushed by one company that benefits from its burdensome provisions, and it hurts small and mid-sized kratom manufacturers,” said Mac Hadow, a senior public policy fellow at the University of California, San Diego, who argued that beverage company Botanic Tonix, which lists itself as a supporter of the Global Kratom Coalition, has enough of a market presence that the registration fees would not be prohibitive.
The Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust said California should avoid restricting products so much that they lose their therapeutic value, and urged the state to increase the 7-OH limit.
Lowe said the levels they were seeking – 2% of dry weight instead of 1% of alkaloid content – were much higher and posed a risk to consumer safety. As for concerns about the fee, Lowe said, “The focus should be on how the provisions of the bill inform and protect consumers, not the costs to industry.”
“The Global Kratom Coalition is not looking to support any one business; we want to ensure kratom products are safe,” said Rowe, who added that the bill would envision a tiered fee system based on annual sales in California, with smaller businesses receiving lower fees.
AB 2365 has been stalled in the state Senate Appropriations Committee as lawmakers sift through hundreds of bills in a so-called hold file, a process that allows legislative leaders to quietly stall bills that would be too expensive or pose difficult political dynamics, avoiding the need for many lawmakers to weigh in.
“Leaving kratom totally unregulated in California makes Californians less safe,” Senator Haney said, calling it “total unchecked.” He said he plans to contact the California Department of Public Health to consider next steps, and said he hopes the FDA will take action rather than leaving the issue up to the state.
“I'm not trying to benefit any particular company in the kratom industry,” but he opted for the less potent version to disappoint “those who want to sell stronger kratom,” Haney said. He said he would like to see the Public Health Service help define what is “synthetic” if the debate continues.
The Public Health Service, which is responsible for registering products under the bill, said it has not conducted any scientific evaluation of the safety risks of the 7-OH in kratom products.
The Global Kratom Coalition said it spent $15,000 on lobbying efforts related to the bill. Financial disclosures available from ThursdayThe party also gave $5,500 in political contributions to Haney, who introduced AB 2365, and $36,400 to Attorney General Rob Bonta, who sponsored the bill, according to state records.
Botanic Tonic is Reported spent $90,000 on lobbying during this legislative session; $30,000 The company spent the money while it was advocating for AB 2365. Other expenses were for “advice and guidance regarding California's unique regulatory and legislative environment,” the company said.
Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust Reported It spent $18,000 lobbying over AB 2365. The American Kratom Association said it didn't hire a lobbyist until the end of July and would report its spending after that.
And the bill has also attracted interest from kratom company MIT45 Inc. Reported The company has spent $60,000 on lobbying, and company officials did not immediately say where it stood on the bill.
of National Institute on Drug Abuse “Much remains unknown” about “chemicals related to kratom,” its health effects and potential therapeutic applications, the report said, complicating discussions among regulators in California and across the nation.
The Global Kratom Coalition has funded research on kratom at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, and researchers Christopher McCurdy and others Expressing Concerns The group is looking at “semisynthetic, isolated” alkaloids. Rowe said the group has given out a total of $500,000 this year. Advancing kratom research is part of the group's mission, he said, and “ensuring that regulations are guided by the evolving science.”
McCurdy said the coalition and “many independent kratom distributors” helped fund the study, but that “donors have no influence over the research we do” and “they all understand that we will publish the results of our research without their review or consent.”
Smith said she has served as a consultant to the Global Kratom Coalition in the past but that her research was funded by NIDA, not the coalition or other groups connected to the kratom industry.
“Kratom research is still in its infancy,” she said.
