Kratom Consumer Protection Act 

What is the Kratom Consumer Protection Act? The majority of the Kratom community is committed to finding ways to help people consume safe and quality Kratom for it’s myriad of purposes. However, just like any industry, there have been some bad eggs in the Kratom industry. Some Kratom vendors out there have illegally contaminated their products and sold them to innocent people. Ensuring consumer safety and protecting the Kratom industry as a whole is why the American Kratom Association (AKA) and other legitimate vendors, like Club13, are committed to providing quality products. In order to ensure uniform safety standards across the industry, the Kratom Consumer Protection Act was created. This act is being advocated by the AKA for implementation in various states. The ultimate goal of the act is to ensure every person gets exactly what they’re paying for - unadulterated, pure, and high-quality Kratom.  While the bulk of the Act is templated, there is some wiggle room for States to amend the Act to suit the state’s needs and to address the state’s concerns. The AKA has suggested a few specific terms for the KCPA to be followed for the sale of safe Kratom products.
  • Kratom must be defined accurately
  • Manufacturers, Kratom vendors, and, well, all sellers of Kratom must follow strict labeling requirements that are defined within the act.
  • Penalties in the case of any violations 
  • Compulsory registration for the production of Kratom with the Department of Agriculture and Food 
  • The agricultural standards must be met at any cost. 
So far, four states have successfully passed the act. Utah was the first state to adopt the Kratom Consumer Protection Act on March 26th, 2019. Georgia, Arizona, and Oregon followed suit shortly after.
November 21, 2019Uncategorized, , , 1 Comment
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Can Kratom Make a Comeback in Wisconsin?

With regard to the law, Kratom has had some highs and lows over the last decade. Although the Mitragyna Speciosa plant remains unregulated in most states, state and federal politicians consistently try to ban it. One state has already succeeded in criminalizing the plant - Wisconsin. 

In 2014, the Wisconsin Senate passed legislation that classified Kratom’s two main alkaloids--mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine--as controlled substances. It was a brash decision that has garnered ethical, constitutional, and political criticisms.

Controversial Senate Bill 325 managed to pass with bipartisan support and was signed into law by Governor Scott Walker just seven months after it was first introduced. The bill was introduced by Republican Senator Sheila Harsdorf and her colleagues, whom were a mix of republicans and democrats.

The bill in question lumped Kratom in with both hallucinogens and dangerous “synthetic cannabinoids,” neither of which Kratom is. Kratom is an indigenous plant to Southeast Asia that has been traditionally ingested by locals for millenia. Today, Kratom is used across the globe for its calming and mood enhancing effects. 

Unlike synthetic cannabinoids, whose devastating effects have been felt across the nation,  there have been no recorded deaths or hospitalizations attributable to the use of Kratom.

On October 30th, five years after the Kratom ban, the Wisconsin State Health Committee held a two-hour informational hearing dedicated to Kratom. The American Kratom Association was joined by Dr. Jack Henningfield, the face of Kratom 8-Factor Analysis and Utah Senator Curt Bramble, who was the first to pass the Kratom Consumer Protection Act (KCPA). Over the course of two-hours, politicians, scientists, and business owners engaged in healthy discourse. Everyone who partook in the hearing certainly increased their Kratom knowledge. If you want to watch the hearing and boost your Kratom knowledge, click here: Informational Hearing on Kratom 

After the hearing, the feedback from the senators was overwhelmingly positive. We should expect a bill introducing the KCPA in Wisconsin soon. If that passes, Kratom will once again be legal in Wisconsin. 

https://www.americankratom.org/mediak/news/wisconsin-senate-health-committee-information-hearing-on-kratom.html

 

November 13, 2019informative, Kratom, Uncategorized, , , , 0 Comments
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picture of kratom plant club13

Indonesia Bans their King Cash Crop

Kratom is one of Indonesia’s biggest exports, rivaling palm oil and rubber. This high global demand has allowed Indonesian farmers to make more money off Kratom than other commodities. Compared to palm oil or rubber, Kratom production is simple, quick, and takes up less land. And most importantly, raw Kratom leaves are worth more per kilogram than rubber or other crops. As a result, many farmers who were scraping by harvesting latex from rubber trees and oil from palms are switching to Kratom. 

Growers are personally exporting hundreds of tons of Kratom a month. Kratom crops are providing Indonesian farmers with additional profits that they’ve not experienced before. This extra income is putting their children through college and increasing their standard of living. 

But - this past June - Indonesia issued a regulation banning Kratom in Indonesia. The ban includes producing, growing, and exporting Kratom and consists of a 5-year transition period for Kratom growers to shift to another crop. 

The impact of this ban in Indonesia could cripple Indonesian Kratom farmers and would severely deplete Kratom supply in the United States - given that 95% of the world’s Kratom comes from Indonesia. 

The Indonesian impact on the US Kratom trade is speculative, but the American impact on this policy is inevitable. The United States of America Food and Drug Administration had contact with and reportedly influenced the Indonesian Minister of Health to place the ban. 

Even though the Kratom ban in Indonesia has already issued, representatives from the American Kratom Association and the Botanical Education Alliance have traveled to Indonesia to discuss a reasonable resolution.  In Indonesia, these representatives met with the Ministry of Health.

While the first meeting with the Ministry of Health went well, anti-Kratom Indonesian organizations have blocked any further discourse. 

According to sources, Daniel Jonah, Deputy Chairperson of the House of Representatives Commission IV, has been furious about the decision. He pointed out that once more, a government issues a ban without doing proper research or basing their decisions on scientific data. Not only does a ban affect the local farmers, but the whole Indonesian economy will also suffer. Indonesia is banning one of its biggest exports and will no longer receive the wealth brought in by a valuable resource like Kratom. 

The American Kratom Association (AKA) is working hand in hand with the Botanical Education Alliance (BEA) to spread awareness and is currently raising funds to send another delegation to Indonesia.

https://www.americankratom.org/update/update-on-indonesia-and-their-proposed-kratom-export-ban.html 

November 6, 2019Kratom, , , , 0 Comments
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