General

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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The World Health Organization will NOT Recommend a Kratom Ban!

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Expert Committee On Drug Dependence announced that it does NOT recommend a critical review of kratom or its alkaloids. This effectively ends the process of recommending a so-called “international ban” at this time. In a document released in early December 2021, the ECDD announced: The Committee considered information regarding the …

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Interview with Dr. Fabian Pitter Steinmetz on Toxicology and Advocacy by Scientists for Better Drug Policy

Dr. Fabian Pitter Steinmetz is a toxicologist from Germany who in 2021 testified for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 44th Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD). There, Dr. Steinmetz gave the case for why kratom should be kept legal. As a member for the European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD), he is …

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Caffeine is an Addictive, Deadly Drug

Coffee is a tropical evergreen plant originating in Ethiopia but now grown worldwide. Two species, Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora, are predominantly sold as a recreational stimulant. Referred to “joe”, “java”, “brew”, “mud”, “liquid cocaine”, “espresso” and “go juice”, coffee is a drug of abuse, primarily used for its psychoactive and stimulant effects, similar to …

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