Tennessee Republican Resolution Signals Desire to Ban Kratom

Sixteen Republicans in the Tennessee House have sponsored a resolution that signals a desire to ban kratom, or at least pass extremely restrictive laws.

HJR147 contains a number of inaccurate and misleading statements.

In the first line, it refers to "Mitragynine, or Kratom". Mitragynine and kratom are not one in the same. Mitragynine is an alkaloid contained in the plant, kratom. Even some kratom leaves in certain parts of the world have been found to contain very small amounts of mitragynine, which is usually the most abundant alkaloid in most leaf material sold in the United States.

In the second line, the resolution reads "Kratom mimics the opioids currently problematic for abuse, addiction, and lethal side effects". Kratom itself is a plant that contains alkaloids, some of which have been found to be partial opioid agonists. Classical opioids like morphine are full opioid receptor agonists. Partial opioid agonists have weaker positive and negative effects than full agonists.

The third line of HJR147 refers to kratom as "gas station heroin". This is false. The term was slang for tianeptine, an atypical tricyclic antidepressant primarily used to treat major depressive disorder in some European countries. It's unregulated in the United States and sometimes sold in gas stations and other retail shops. It's banned in certain states, like Alabama and Michigan.

The next line complains about kratom being sold without proper information on the labels. Prohibition of kratom would guarantee that this never occurs, as substances sold on the black market aren't labelled at all.

The resolution states kratom "is actually banned in two nations where the native plant is grown". The nations aren't specified, but they are presumably talking about Thailand and Malaysia. Kratom was legalized in Thailand in 2021, and Malaysia has been considering legalizing the plant.

The resolution states that kratom "is banned altogether in Germany". That is untrue. Selling, buying, and possessing kratom is legal in Germany, but it must be sold as "not for human consumption", a situation that kratom groups are fighting against, so that vendors can properly test and label their products.

Tennessee House Republicans aren't the first group of legislators that have passed kratom prohibitions based on outdated and false information. These points are frequently brought up in state and town council meetings, and continue to be corrected, ignored, and repeated often in both media and official registers.

The resolution has passed the Hose Criminal Justice Subcommittee and is now in the Judiciary Committee.

Resolutions are simply official statements and do not create legislation.