Deadline to send comments to Ohio Board of Pharmacy on Kratom legality is April 30!

Posted on the Ohio Board of Pharmacy website:

The following information is being provided pursuant to the requirements of Executive Order 2011-01K and Senate Bill 2 of the 129th General Assembly, which require state agencies, including the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy, to draft rules in collaboration with stakeholders, assess and justify an adverse impact on the business community (as defined by S.B. 2), and provide an opportunity for the affected public to provide input on the following rules.

New4729:9-1-01.1: Adds kratom as a schedule I controlled substance.

Comments on the proposed rules will be accepted until close of business on April 30, 2019.

Please send all comments to the following email address: [email protected]

In addition, please copy your comments to: [email protected]


We wrote about the process of banning kratom in Ohio back in January.

In March, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy voted to recommend a ban on kratom.

The recommendation was sent to the Office of Lieutenant Governor, and is now subject to Ohio’s Common Sense Initiative:

Under the CSI, state agencies, including the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy, are required to draft rules in collaboration with stakeholders, assess and justify an adverse impact on the business community (as defined by SB 2 of the 129th General Assembly), and provide an opportunity for the affected public to provide input on the rules.

This is where the comment period, now until April 30, comes in. Ohio residents in the kratom community are the “affected public”. So please email your comments.

After going through the CSI process, the recommendation will then go to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule review:

The State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy files a rule proposal with the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) to begin the legislature’s rule-review process. The process requires the Board to conduct a public hearing 31 to 40 days after the original file date. Generally, 41 to 65 days after the original file date, JCARR schedules the Board to appear before a meeting concerning the rule proposal.

6 thoughts on “Deadline to send comments to Ohio Board of Pharmacy on Kratom legality is April 30!”

  1. CSI has recommended the obop , file the rule with JCARR we will need every Kratom advocate in Ohio to be ready for this comment period and the final public hearing with JCARR . This is the last step in the rule making process please make your voice heard. We are also contacting state reps to educate in preparation of the kratom consumer protection act. Please reach out to them and schedule a meeting or send them an email they need to hear from their constituents.

  2. Sent today. Thanks for the heads up.

    The Ohio Board of Pharmacy wants to add the plant kratom to its list of schedule 1 drugs. I believe the code is 4729:9-1-01.1: The Common Sense Initiative give me a forum in which I can voice my feelings about pending legislation.

    As an Ohio resident I feel I must speak out for the benefits of the plant kratom. I have been prescribed opiates for almost 20 years for an inoperable neck injury. I was given no hope for any additional relief. I am seen monthly by a medical doctor who specializes in pain management.

    I began taking kratom almost three months ago. In that period of time I have cut my dose of opiates in half. I have dropped my anti-anxiety medicine and can foresee a day when I can say I am opioid -free.

    I have no desire or physical need to take kratom except for its analgesic properties unlike oxycodone which lets my body know when I have missed a dose with terrible symptoms of withdrawal.

    I feel that making this plant illegal in Ohio is a step in the wrong direction on the war on illegal opiates. We should be looking for legitimate alternatives to the addictive properties of modern-day pain killers.

    I am putting a lot on the line by identifying myself not only as a long-term legitimate opiate user but a fan of kratom as well.

    Please consider the people who have found a miraculous alternative to the terrible effects of opioids and do not put kratom on the schedule one list.

    Thank you.

  3. To whom it may concern,
    It saddens me to have to write this after seeing all the negatives to prescribed medication. While there are many cases in which patients need such medicine, there are many whom have died or fell ill too soon because of such medicine.
    Unfortunately, we lost my mother in law too soon in August of 2012, because of being prescribed a ridiculous amount of opiates by her family doctor. Enough so that the Dr and pharmacy settled without a trial, taking responsibility. Since then, learning about Kratom, I often wonder if this could of made a difference for my husband and children in having their mother/grandma.
    Now, I watch my own mother and grandmother take so many prescribed medications, that they can barely keep straight what they took and when they need their next dose. All while reading how the side effects of each medicine could negatively impact other parts of their health.
    Yet, here we have a natural supplement which can help so many take their health into their own hands and you want to ban it? Yet, the adultered numbers that are being thrown around are nothing in comparison with the deaths that we are seeing daily from said prescribed medicine.
    With all due respect, it is very irresponsible to ban this plant rather than regulate it. If a ban is placed, there is no doubt the death toll from overdoes will rise! In no circumstance, should a natural health supplement be made illegal. We are in America,the land of the free. Adults should never be told that a natural supplement is illegal, especially after it has helped so many.
    Please consider not only the consumers, but the families of consumers before making such an irrational decision.
    Study it, regulate it, but don’t take away someone’s lifeline.
    Sincerely,
    Misty Stutz

  4. Kratom is solely assisting in my opioid dependence recovery! It’s of course not the same rush/high BUT Kratom serves multiple other effective solutions! My chronic pain needs are absolutely being fulfilled and better managed due to many positive outcomes of taking Kratom! Please keep Kratom legal! I know (without any doubts at all) that it’s a step closer to resolving the opioid overdose epidemic!
    #keepkratomlegal

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