ATLANTA — A Georgia bill regulating Kratom, aimed at preventing overdose deaths and other medical issues, takes effect Wednesday.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot reported on the legislation after the bill passed and was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp in May.
Elliot spoke with John and Dana Pope, who pushed for the regulations after their 23-year-old son, Ethan, died of an accidental overdose of the herbal supplement in late Dec. 2021 in Cobb County.
Starting Jan. 1, per the law’s provisions, Georgia is regulating kratom, a substance made from the Southeast Asian plant Mitragyna speciosa and used as a pill, brewed as a tea, crushed or smoked.
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As Channel 2 Action News has reported in the past, kratom is often used as a mood booster, energy supplement and pain reliever, and has also been used often by people suffering from opioid withdrawal or substance use disorder.
Even as far back as 2017, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Chief Medical Examiner Dr. John Eisenstat said kratom had caused five deaths in 2016 and another 11 in 2017, as of that November.
Eisenstat told Channel 2′s Mark Winne previously that kratom wasn’t just showing up at convenience stores, supermarkets and other places where it’s sold over the counter, it was also showing up in lab tests done for autopsies.
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At a 2022 news conference at the Georgia Capitol, attorney Matt Wetherington compared the supplement to hard drugs.
“You don’t expect to go into a store and find something similar to heroin between energy drinks and breath mints,” Wetherington said in 2022. “We intend to hold every single person and entity involved in the distribution and sale of these products responsible.”
With the new law in effect, here’s what the regulations on kratom will be:
- You will have to be 21 or older to buy or possess any kratom products or extracts
- It will be illegal to knowingly sell kratom to those under the age of 21
- It will be illegal to ingest kratom in a manner that uses a heating element, power source, electronic circuit or other electronic, chemical or mechanical means to produce a vapor. This includes electronic cigarettes, electronic cigars, electronic cigarillos, electronic pipes or similar products, as well as vapor cartridges
- It is illegal to sell, deliver, cause to be delivered or help be delivered any kratom in a form that violates the banned methods of ingestion
- Kratom cannot be sold unless it is behind a store counter and only accessible by store employees from a secured display with intervention by staff
- Violations of these regulations will be punishable by a fine up to $250 for first offense, $500 for second offense and $1,000 for a third or further offense
- Kratom sold in Georgia cannot have a concentration level:
- greater than 150 mg of mitragynine per serving
- greater than 0.5 mg 7-hydroxymitragynine per gram
- Greater than 1 mg 7-hydroxymitragynine per serving
- Kratom sellers cannot sell adulterated kratom, kratom that uses substances not recognized as food-safe, kratom products containing:
- any synthetic alkaloids or metabolite including synthetic mitragynine, synthetic7-hydroxymitragynine, or any other synthetically derived compounds of the kratom plant
- A kratom product in a form that employs a heating element, power source, electronic circuit, or other electronic, chemical, or mechanical means, regardless of shape or size, that can be used to produce vapor in a solution or other form, including, but not limited to, any electronic cigarette, electronic cigar, electronic cigarillo, electronic pipe, or similar product or device and any vapor cartridge or other container of kratom in a solution or other form that is intended to be used with or in an electronic cigarette, electronic cigar, electronic cigarillo, electronic pipe, or similar product or device
- Kratom sellers or processors must also be registered agents in the state so long as they are involved in the sale or processing of kratom
- Instructions for safe use, including serving size and timeframe for safe consumption, must be on the packaging of kratom products
- Consumer warnings for kratom use are also required on packaging, and a warning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved kratom for therapeutic uses
- Processing violators can face up to 15 years in prison and/or a $100,000 fine for first convictions if done with criminal negligence
- Non-criminal negligence convictions are misdemeanors and subject to a fine up to $1,000
- Additional convictions lead to upgraded charges, including felonies and higher fines
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