HERNANDO COUNTY, FL – A Florida teacher was arrested after admitting to furnishing a student with two doses of a kratom-based supplement.
News media did not report the strength or contents of the supplement, referring to it only as “kratom” or “a kratom-based supplement”.
After ingesting both doses of the supplement, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office report, the student became “unresponsive with a rapid pulse, shallow breathing, and was hot to the touch.” The student was found to have a temporarily elevated heart rate and high blood pressure, and was taken to the hospital for further evaluation.
The teacher, Terry Kennedy, 47, turned himself into police and was held on a $500 bond.
Kennedy was arrested for violating the Florida Kratom Consumer Protection Act (KCPA), passed in 2023 and updated again in 2024. Championed by kratom advocates and industry-funded nonprofits, the act makes it “unlawful to sell, deliver, barter, furnish, or give, directly or indirectly, any kratom product to a person who is under 21 years of age.” Violating the KCPA is a second degree misdemeanor. In Florida, a second-degree misdemeanor is considered a lesser criminal offense but still carries legal consequences. The penalties include probation, up to 60 days in jail, and fines up to $500.
The KCPA, championed mainly by the American Kratom Association (AKA), was first passed in Utah in 2019. Since then, 15 other states have adopted KCPA regulations that aim to reduce potential harms (such as preventing children from accessing kratom) rather than prohibit the plant to a lawless underground market, and criminalize kratom consumers.