The Missouri House on Wednesday advanced a bill that would enact new regulations on kratom products, which the National Institute on Drug Abuse defines as “an herbal substance that can produce opioid- and stimulant-like effects.”
Kratom products are currently legal both federally and in Missouri, and the legislation that received initial approval Wednesday would put an age restriction on who can buy the products at 21, along with limitations on ingredients.
The bill needs a final vote in the House before going to the Senate.
“It’s usually used to get people off opioid addictions,” state Rep. Tricia Byrnes, a Republican from Wentzville, said during Wednesday’s debate, “and it’s a pain reliever, instead of getting people hooked to opioids.”
The American Kratom Association, which provided the language for the original legislation, opposes a change made before Wednesday’s vote, said Mac Haddow, senior policy fellow with the association.
In the version approved in a committee earlier this month, he said, products containing a synthetic form of a substance called 7-hydroxymitragynine — which he called “very dangerous” and as addictive as heroin — would continue to be sold in Missouri without any regulation.
The amended version of the bill instead takes aim at “any product marketed or sold as kratom” that contains more than 2% of the substance, also known as 7-OH.
That allows for these products to be sold under a different name, Haddow said, and doesn’t take them off store shelves as the bill intended.
“We oppose the addition of the language that would allow for 7-OH products to be sold in the state, not calling them kratom,” he said, though he still supports the bill. “But that’s at least a better compromise than 7-OH products being sold as kratom, which misleads consumers.”
While kratom leaves contain many chemical compounds that may influence the human body, the most-studied is mitragynine, according to the institute. When ingested, mitragynine breaks down into another chemical, 7-hydroxymitragynine. There are also very small amounts of 7-hydroxymitragynine occurring naturally in kratom.
Missouri-based American Shaman is the first company to bring 7-OH to market, said company owner Vince Sanders told The Independent in an interview Wednesday, and is a leader in these products nationwide.
Sanders argues his products, which come in pill form, are safe and “far superior” to kratom products on the market. Byrnes’ original bill would have banned a number of the products the company manufactures, he said, because they’re made with a higher percentage of 7-OH.
Sanders said his products start with the kratom leaf and then their production process replicates what happens naturally with the plant itself.
“We just do it outside the plant, so that we can do it at scale,” he said.
He supports the bill because it creates some separation between his products and regular kratom.
“People have been taking normal kratom for, you know, decades plus,” Sanders said. “We don’t want you to confuse this product with that product.”
People often take several hundred milligrams of kratom, he said, and his 7-OH products are much more potent. Sanders doesn’t believe the bill applies to his products, because they’re already not marketed as kratom.
“We want to make it real clear that this shouldn’t be marketed as kratom,” he said, “and then kratom rules should apply to kratom, not to this because they’re different.”
American Shaman originally opposed Byrnes’ legislation. After the group asked for the change and it was added, the company now supports the bill. Sanders said the bill was a “legislative attempt” brought forth by the kratom industry “to get rid of a superior product, which is a shame.”
Byrnes said she doesn’t believe the amendment exempts any products that originate from the kratom leaf.
“I don’t know how saying, ‘Oh, we’re just going to call it tomatoes,’ make it not kratom,” Byrnes told The Independent Wednesday. “I’m not picking winners or losers. I’m not trying to do anything except that if you’re selling kratom that’s from this plant, then it needs to have these requirements.”
Matthew Lowe, executive director of the Global Kratom Coalition, is opposed to 7-OH products because, like Haddow, he said they are highly addictive and can seriously injure people if they’re not aware of what they’re taking.
Also like Haddow, Lowe supports the bill because it prevents them from being marketed as kratom. And there are other dangerous chemicals the bill prevents from being added to kratom products, they both said.
“I find it strange that you’ve got individuals who’ve got a synthetic single alkaloid product that’s more potent than morphine … even having a seat at the table of a kratom regulatory bill,” Lowe said. “Because they’re not kratom. They’re not dietary ingredients. They’re unapproved drugs.”
