A complete kratom ban is off the table in Utah this year
Alixel Cabrera
A complete ban of kratom products is off the table in Utah after lawmakers revised the most sweeping proposal the Legislature introduced this year. However, after this year, synthetic kratom products may go off the shelves of convenience stores and gas stations.
Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, still believes a total ban of kratom, either natural or artificial, is appropriate. But, saying he needs to work with House representatives, he changed his bill on the Senate floor Wednesday to a more flexible proposal allowing only pure leaf kratom with more restrictions.
“This is going to be very narrow. This is going to eliminate, hopefully, 90% plus of our problems in the state of Utah, but we are going to allow pure leaf kratom to be sold in the state of Utah. That’s going to be done in specialty shops,” McKell told the Senate.
The updated version of the bill passed the body unanimously and is now ready for the House’s consideration.
With that change the Legislature is advancing three bills with a common theme — they all aim to see artificially-enhanced kratom on its way out of the state, a product that experts say is as addictive as opioids like morphine. All would also ban large percentages of 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, an alkaloid that occurs naturally in the kratom plant but only in a minor quantity.
Lawmakers and experts have supported further restrictions on kratom in the state citing high addiction rates, strong withdrawal issues, deceptive practices from the industry, and even fatal overdoses. However, kratom advocates say that’s true of adulterated kratom products, which often come in the form of tablets, gummies, drink mixes and shots.
The updated version of the bill passed the body unanimously and is now ready for the House’s consideration.
With that change the Legislature is advancing three bills with a common theme — they all aim to see artificially-enhanced kratom on its way out of the state, a product that experts say is as addictive as opioids like morphine. All would also ban large percentages of 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, an alkaloid that occurs naturally in the kratom plant but only in a minor quantity.
Lawmakers and experts have supported further restrictions on kratom in the state citing high addiction rates, strong withdrawal issues, deceptive practices from the industry, and even fatal overdoses. However, kratom advocates say that’s true of adulterated kratom products, which often come in the form of tablets, gummies, drink mixes and shots.
At the same time McKell presented his bill, a similar conversation was happening on the House floor, where Minority Whip Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City, introduced other kratom regulations she has been pursuing for two years.
Her bill, Dailey-Provost said, would ensure a unified regulatory framework for kratom processors and retailers. That would aim to improve product safety and compliance through dedicated funding and enforcement by the state’s administrative agencies.
“What we are lacking is a regulatory framework. It is a vacuum right now, without this bill, regardless of the legality we have given our regulatory agencies no tools to regulate kratom,” Dailey-Provost said.
The McKell and Dailey-Provost bills are similar. They both require kratom processors and retailers to register with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. They both ban kratom containing psychoactive stimulants or adulterants and kratom extracts. And they both set the same $5,000 administrative fine to kratom sellers who fail to register as a processor or retailer.
“She has a lot of regulatory structure that happens in vape shops. My preference is to see … the two bills dealing with the subject moving forward,” McKell told reporters on Wednesday.