Kratom: Opioid or Supplement

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, May 25, 2018 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

The Georgia General Assembly won’t reconvene until the second Monday of 2019, but legislators have plenty to do until then. While they run for reelection, most of them will be appointed to serve on any one of three dozen study committees they created this year.

Two separate committees will study in-state cultivation of marijuana – in-state growing to produce THC oil, and in-state growing to produce industrial hemp. Another bill, H.R. 1160, created a committee that will study Mitragyna speciosa, a.k.a. Kratom, which the Food and Drug Administration identifies as “a plant which grows naturally in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Guinea.”

After attributing 36 deaths to kratom, the FDA warns consumers not to use any product that’slabeled kratom or any supplement or dietary product that contains kratom or its psychoactive compounds. Kratom affects the same opioid brain receptors as morphine and appears to have properties that expose users to possible addiction, substance abuse, and dependence on kratom.In September 2014, U.S. Marshals, at the FDA’s request, seized from Rosefield Management, in Van Nuys, California, over 25,000 pounds of raw kratom worth more than $5 million.

In January 2016, at FDA’s request, U.S. Marshals seized nearly 90,000 bottles of dietary supplements labeled as containing kratom and worth over $400,000. That product is manufactured for and held by a company in Illinois.

In August 2016, at FDA’s request, U.S. Marshals seized over 100 cases of products labeled as containing kratom worth over $150,000. The product that’s known as Kratom Therapy is distributed by a company doing business under the name of Kratom Therapy in Grover Beach, California.

While FDA continues evaluating consumer safety and the effects of kratom, it’s a hot topic in four states, including Georgia where a bill passed this session to create a kratom study committee. H.R. 1160 says kratom, that’s advertised as a replacement for opioid painkillers and a way to treat opioid addiction, is used in unregulated supplements as a concentration booster and a workout enhancer. On February 6, 2018, the FDA Commissioner said, “As the scientific data and adverse event reports have clearly revealed, compounds in kratom make it so it isn’t just a plant – it’s an opioid.”

Since study committees are open to the public, as many people as possible should attend these meetings. Dates and locations will be announced later. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.