The Economic Affairs Interim Committee recently advanced draft legislation to ban kratom, a southeast Asian plant with psychoactive properties.
State lawmakers have tried and failed to pass a regulatory framework for kratom products in past legislative sessions while limiting the most potent versions.
Amanda Cahill represents county health departments with the Confluence Public Health Alliance and spoke against another attempt at regulation.
“The fiscal note that I handed out does put a lot of financial burden on tax payers to go ahead and regulate and legitimize a product in Montana that frankly I don’t think we’re sure should be legitimated out there and learning more about that every day,” said Cahill.
While public health sounds the alarm over rising addiction to kratom products, industry members make a distinction between natural leaf kratom and highly potent derivatives like the gas station opioid 7OH. The chemical is found in small amounts in the kratom plant and can be extracted and sold in various concentrations.
Kratom’s synthetic and natural byproducts are widely available in forms including tea, canned drinks and pills. The plant has existed in a regulatory grey zone for years, leaving states to set their own guardrails. North Dakota recently joined a handful of other states in banning kratom entirely.
EJ Redding with the Montana Kava & Kratom Association represents kratom bars and other industry members statewide who support regulation of the natural leaf kratom over a total ban.
“By removing the synthesized products from the market, we do away with the vast majority of problems we have seen here,” he said.
The Montana Economic Affairs Interim Committee voted 6-5 to pass draft legislation banning kratom statewide, which means the bill moves closer to consideration during next year’s legislative session.
The Drug Enforcement Administration meanwhile announced on Wednesday, August 26, that it's adding three 7OH-related substances to schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.
It's also proposing to add higher concentrations of 7OH into schedule I. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Wednesday extended the public input period for the strength of 7OH it should criminalize.
The original comment period on the proposed threshold ended on July 31. It has been pushed to September 10.
