January 18, 2022
Bills have been introduced in Washington and Kentucky that would place kratom on the list of Schedule 1 substances in those states.
In Kentucky, Representative Josh Calloway introduced HB142 into the state’s House of Representatives. If passed into law, kratom would be included on the list of controlled substances that are unlawful to traffic and possess. Kentucky kratom consumers would be criminalized, and anyone carrying kratom in the state would be subject to arrest.
In the state of Washington, State Senator Jim Honeyford introduced SB5743, titled “Designating kratom as a controlled substance” which would also criminalize those who possess or sell kratom. The act also includes language about “declaring an emergency”.
Residents of Kentucky and Washington state should contact their state representatives. Those both in and out of state could contact bill sponsors and any committee members when these bills go to committee. We will do our best to keep you updated. Please only contact these people if you are going to leave a polite message. If you are going to leave an angry or threatening message, you might as well just ask them to ban kratom,
Find your representatives in Kentucky.
Find your representatives in Washington.
In 2020, Oregon, where kratom is legal, passed a law decriminalizing the possession all drugs, essentially making possession of illegal drugs punishable by fines or other penalties that don’t involve imprisonment. The law also increased funding for addiction and recovery services, partially paid for by legal marijuana sales.
Vermont, where kratom is illegal, is considering a bill that would decriminalize the possession of all drugs. This will free up kratom consumers to possess kratom without the threat of imprisonment, only fines if caught. Sellers of kratom would continue to face stiff penalties.
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My name is Edmond Schwab I am 43 years old and live in Kentucky. I don’t know if my journey towards Kratom is unusual or typical oh, but I discovered it by happenstance after a medicine I had been taking for joint pain, Diclofenac Sodium, was no longer an option when I developed blood clots. Initially the doctors could only offer high powered opioids by prescription that gave me some hope of relief but the relief came with a price and that was a constant mental Haze, getting drowsy easily and it did not even eliminate all the pain even with taking both hydrocodone and tramadol as prescribed initially. Suffice it to say as a result I missed a lot of work and often could only work partial days at a time while on the prescription opioids. So naturally I started searching for other Alternatives that would allow me to be productive, functional, and most importantly pain-free. That was what I discovered kratom. Around the same time I was starting to have issues with my knees hip and back, while I was still able to take the diclofenac sodium, my wife Michelle started having serious back trouble as a result of a minor fender-bender where the insurance company of the offending party was all too quick to offer to settle, they knew that if they delayed problems would start to show up, due to the job I had at the time I wasn’t able to see what should have been visible a mile away and could not be there to prevent her from signing her rights away, but after she signed their settlement, as if on schedule she started having serious back issues where none existed before. She is typically able to take it in powder form in a shake I typically have to take in capsule form because my taste buds do tend to Revolt at it but other than that, for both of us it has been a miraculous blessing. Spent the last several days writing every single state representative and state senator here in Kentucky asking them to oppose hb142 including telling my story and even trying to write the authors of the legislation, in hopes I can convince them to rescind it based upon my own story and everything I have dealt with and the fact that Kratom has been nothing less than a game changer, in terms of giving me and my wife back a high quality of life that had previously been lost. She is a civil servant working for the state I am a small business owner.
I don’t want to ruffle feathers here this should be based on science and personal experience oh, but it is my observation that these people that seem to be so bent on banning kratom appear to be what I would consider an AstroTurf group when you look at Grassroots organizations then the term really starts to register because their claims are nebulous at best with no substantiating proof, only innuendos and fear-mongering, and while attacking them is less than germane to our objective oh, they certainly need to be called out for what they are, shills for the pharmaceutical industry.