A Pennsylvania state legislator is spearheading a bill to more stringently regulate the sale of the painkiller kratom.
The Kratom Consumer Protection Act, sponsored by state Senator Tracy Pennycuick (R-Red Hill), would ban the substance’s purveyance to anyone aged 21 or younger. The legislation would also limit the product’s potency, bar its combination with controlled chemicals and require its display of “adequate labeling directions for… safe and effective use….”
Kratom, which is sold over the counter in Pennsylvania, comes from the southeast Asian tropical tree Mitragyna speciosa and can be taken in powder, pill or tea form. While the federal government does not prohibit the drug, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “warn[s] consumers not to use it” out of fear that they may experience “addiction, abuse, and dependence.” Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia, along with a few localities, entirely disallow its sale or use.
Research on the drug’s utility suggests many take it to relieve pain, mitigate anxiety or manage opioid withdrawal, while others use it recreationally for psychoactive effect. Experts are uncertain how many Americans take kratom, but some analyses suggest several million do so. A 2021 New York University study estimated that 0.7 percent of U.S. adults and adolescents as well as 10.3 percent of Americans with opioid addictions used the drug in the preceding year.
In a statement, Pennycuick characterized the results of kratom’s two main psychoactive components mitragynine and 7-hydroxymytragynine as “hallucinogenic and potentially addictive.” She lamented the fate of a young West Chester man in 2019 whose death was reportedly linked to the drug’s intake. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that same year identified kratom as a cause (if not the cause) of 91 overdose deaths between July 2016 and December 2017.
“There are very few laws currently on the books that govern this potentially dangerous substance,” Pennycuick said. “The commonsense measures I am proposing will help to put regulatory guardrails on this substance, prevent purchases by minors and ensure that consumers know exactly what is in the product they are buying.”
Her proposal would enhance penalties contained in the state Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act by hitting noncompliant processors and retailers with fines ranging from $100 to $5,000 depending on the frequency of their offenses. The bill awaits consideration by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
While most of Pennycuick’s cosponsors are also Republicans, the committee’s Minority Chair Senator Art Haywood (D-Philadelphia) has also signed onto the legislation, signaling the bipartisan support the bill would need to reach Governor Josh Shapiro’s (D) desk. While Republicans command a 28-22 Senate majority, Democrats have a one-seat advantage in the the House of Representatives.
Drug-restriction critics worry that attempts to control kratom could backfire if the measures are too heavy-handed. Geoffrey Lawrence, director of drug policy at the libertarian Reason Foundation, observed that only two U.S. deaths between 2011 and 2017 were determined to have resulted solely from kratom intake. During that timespan, over 200,000 Americans died from opioids like fentanyl and heroin, drugs many people reported giving up while using kratom to make quitting more bearable.
“Fortunately, kratom is among the least dangerous drugs on the market,” he told The Pennsylvania Daily Star via email.
Lawrence opined that even forbidding the sale of the painkiller to minors would cause undesired outcomes.
“The danger with prohibition is that it creates an illicit market,” he wrote. “We may not think it’s a good idea for kids to access over-the-counter kratom, but with prohibition, the alternative is often that kids may be pushed to purchase and use unknown street substances that someone claims to be kratom. Street drugs aren’t subject to any kind of manufacturing or purity standards, and it’s common to see tainted products on the black market.”
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tracy Pennycuick” by Tracy Pennycuick. Background Photo “Pennsylvania State Capitol” by Ruhrfisch. CC BY-SA 4.0.
