The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tried to get Kratom banned on a national level via a massive misinformation campaign, but ultimately the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) took the side of Kratom users after an outpouring of comments and testimony from individuals who told their story about how Kratom helped their lives. This saga will be explored in-depth in a future article on Kratom Cafe.
However, the FDA’s misinformation campaign and scare tactics caused Kratom to be banned in Indiana, Vermont, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Alabama, and Arkansas, in addition to several municipalities and counties.
The good news is that the American Kratom Association has launched an aggressive campaign to get the Kratom Consumer Protection Act (KCPA) passed in every state. Essentially, the KCPA properly regulates Kratom, in order to prevent adulterated and contaminated products from reaching the market, and ensuring that Kratom users will only receive pure, safe, and natural Kratom.
Indeed, the initial wave of state Kratom bans was caused by 9 Kratom deaths in Europe due to a product called ‘Krypton’, which claimed to be a Kratom extract but actually contained the dangerous synthetic opioid o-desmethyltramadol. This will be explored in-depth in a future article on Kratom Cafe.
Essentially, adulterated and contaminated Kratom products have led to some deaths, and every time this happens the FDA latches on to it and spins it into negative national hysteria against Kratom in general. Therefore, eliminating adulterated and contaminated Kratom is essential in order to keep Kratom legal long term, and this is what the KCPA focuses on.
Specifically, the KCPA requires all Kratom vendors to register with the state and provide independent lab certifications that their products comply with the KCPA, the KCPA bans Kratom that is adulterated with any dangerous non-Kratom substance or any substance that degrades the quality or strength of Kratom, the KCPA bans any synthetic alkaloids which means Kratom extracts must be derived from natural Kratom leaf, the KCPA bans any products which contain too much 7-hydroxymitragynine meaning Kratom products must contain a relatively natural level of alkaloids, the KCPA requires all Kratom products to have proper warning labels, the KCPA requires all Kratom products to be properly labeled including the level of alkaloids in the product, and finally the KCPA bans the sale of Kratom to those under the age of 18 or 21.
Thus, the KCPA properly regulates the Kratom industry so that only safe and natural Kratom reaches users, which will eliminate negative incidents due to contaminated and adulterated Kratom. Further, states which pass the KCPA will not ban Kratom, since they will fully understand how Kratom is beneficial in general but proper regulation is the key, rather than knowing nothing about Kratom and being scared by FDA misinformation.
So far the KCPA has been passed in Georgia, Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. The American Kratom Association is working on getting the KCPA passed in over 20 more states in 2020, including most of the states where Kratom is banned.
Further, the American Kratom Association successfully overturned proposed Kratom bans in Maryland, South Dakota, and Hawaii in only the past month, since legislators are understanding that the way forward is proper regulation via the KCPA rather than an outright ban.
Thus, the American Kratom Association has proven that it has a winning strategy when it comes to protecting the legality of Kratom, with several proposed state Kratom bans being overturned and the KCPA being passed in several states. That being said, the fight is nowhere near over, and Kratom users should consider donating to the American Kratom Association at this link, since passing the KCPA in each state and defending against Kratom bans costs a tremendous amount of money for lawyers, professional advocates, and travel expenses.