California Kratom Regulation Bill Dissolves

A bill that would regulate kratom in California has dissolved in the Senate after passing the California State Assembly in May.

AB2365 was introduced by Matt Haney (D-San Francisco). The bill would have placed age restrictions on the sale of kratom, imposed requirements for labeling, required companies to be licensed by the state, and restrict the sale of any product that contains 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) at a concentration of more than 1% of alkaloids.

The alkaloid 7-OH occurs in zero to trace amounts in natural leaf kratom, and is a natural metabolite of kratom's most abundant alkaloid, mitragynine. In animal studies, 7-OH has been observed to be more habit forming than mitragynine. Though it is a partial opioid agonist, meaning it does not fully bind to opioid receptors like classical opioids, 7-OH on its own is considered to carry a similar risk of dependency as morphine.

In the past year, companies have been selling extracted 7-OH on its own. Much of the kratom industry opposes this, because of the potential for addiction as well as the fact that 7-OH as an isolated alkaloid has never been consumed by humans and is nothing like traditional kratom. In fact, many in the kratom industry would like to see these products not include the word "kratom" on the label, if not outlaw the sale entirely.

In the California bill, the proposed 1% cap on 7-OH has caused considerable controversy, as some companies such as OPMS carry products that contain 2% 7-OH.

The American Kratom Association (AKA) accused the Global Kratom Coalition (GKC), who lobbied for AB2365, of purposely writing the law to shut some kratom products out of the market. GKC is heavily backed by Botanic Tonics, a large company that sells kratom beverages, while AKA lists many vendors as part of its Good Manufacturing Practices program, including OPMS, which would be affected by the bill.

AKA has criticized the regulatory structure of the bill, alleging it would cost vendors tens of thousands of dollars per year per product to do business in the state, driving out competition from small and medium sized companies.

According to an article in the LA Times, GKC spent $15,000 lobbying for this bill, as well as in donations to Haney and Attorney General Rob Bonta, who supported the bill. Botanic Tonics spent $90,000 on lobbying in California this year. Tens of thousands more came from other kratom affiliated companies.

In a statement, the GKC expressed "disappointment" in the shelving of this bill, and expressed the need for "stronger regulatory measures than those currently in place to ensure consumer safety and informed use of kratom products".