General

Language Regulating Processors Stripped in Pennsylvania Kratom Consumer Protection Bill; Only Prevents Sales to Minors

6/21/2022 Pennsylvania’s “Kratom Consumer Protection Act”, HB2357, now only prohibits retailers from selling kratom to individuals under the age of 18. The bill, referred to Pennsylvania’s House Health Committee on March 8, 2022, previously contained language that would place regulations on kratom processors. The committee submitted the bill as amended on June 13, crossing out …

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Interview with Dr. Christopher McCurdy and Dr. Brian Pearson on the History and Future of Kratom Plant Science and Pharmacology

This interview is a transcript of Kratom Science Podcast #69 Kratom Science: I want to start off with Dr. McCurdy. You were originally with University of Mississippi. That university is known for the only federally legal cannabis farm. You started to study kratom around 2004, and I’m just wondering how you became interested in kratom? …

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255 Pages of First-Hand Kratom Consumer Experiences

Thousands of comments posted to various pages of KratomScience.com from 2014 – 2021 reflected first-hand experiences with the consumption of kratom. Commenters independently found KratomScience.com and shared their experiences without solicitation. Though users can comment anonymously under different usernames and IP addresses, efforts were made to group together multiple comments made under the same email …

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Pennsylvania House Democrats Compare Kratom to Heroin in Pseudoscientific Tweet

On May 2nd, the Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee @PADemPolicy posted on Twitter that it was “in Allentown with @RepSchlossberg for a roundtable on the Evolving Epidemic: Opioids and Treatment Options.” Then in a reply to this tweet, wrote “Kratom is widely available but suppresses breathing much the same way as heroin.” As anyone who …

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Threats to Kratom Legality in Nevada, Tennessee Prove We Need Broader National Drug Policy Reform

On March 15, 2022, the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy released a Notice of Intent to Act Upon a Regulation (pdf) that would place kratom, specifically mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine on the state’s list of Schedule I controlled substances. According to an April 6th message from the American Kratom Association to its email list, a hearing …

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February 2022 Update on State Kratom Bills: Who’s Regulating? Who’s Banning?

*Information below Current as of February 8, 2022. Please see our Kratom Legality page, last updated 2/25/22 Here is a summary of recent and current actions being taken on kratom legislation on the state level. You can click on the bill number to be directed to the state’s webpage for that specific bill where you …

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Kratom Prohibition Bills Introduced in States of Washington, Kentucky

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 …

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Pearl River County, Mississippi Board Wants to Ban Kratom

Mississippi has a long history with kratom. Dr. Christopher McCurdy co-authored several groundbreaking kratom studies from 2008-2016 working out of The University of Mississippi. Due in part to a law enforcement task force touring around the state to lobby for prohibition, kratom is now illegal in several towns and counties, including Oxford, the home town …

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Study: Mitragynine does not rely on its metabolism into 7-hydroxymitragynine to produce pain relieving effects

In a new study by the team at University of Florida, scientists found that the metabolite 7-hydroxymitragynine does not account for the pain-relieving effects of its parent alkaloid, mitragynine (Berthold et al., 2021). Here we investigated the hotplate antinociception, pharmacokinetics, and tissue distribution of mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine at equianalgesic oral doses in…mice to determine the …

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European Kratom Alliance Announces its Formation

Kratom advocates in Europe have announced the formation of the European Kratom Alliance (EKA). The group made this announcement last week on r/kratom: It’s been five months since we have started working on this project in secrecy. It started with the WHO debacle, but we have finally made it. As of yesterday, we have formally …

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