A House bill that bans synthetic kratom products and limits the sale of kratom products to those 21 and up has breezed through both chambers of the Mississippi legislature unanimously – officially approved by the Senate Thursday.
The debate has intensified in Mississippi since 2022, when the first bill was introduced in the House that would restrict the sale of kratom. That bill died in the Senate, as did another House measure in 2023. The relatively split discourse is reflective of the national conversation on a delicate, nuanced issue.
House Bill 1077 appears to have appeased both sides of the debate for now. The bill was without a single dissenter, passing the House 115-0 and the Senate 51-0.
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), “kratom” commonly refers to an herbal substance that can produce opioid- and stimulant-like effects. The substance, officially categorized as a supplement by the FDA, exploded in popularity in the U.S. from 2011 to 2017, with an estimated 15 million American users as of 2020.
Commonly referred to as “opioid-adjacent,” many have clamored for regulation of the substance, citing its addictive nature and proximity to illegal narcotics such as heroin and fentanyl. Others say it’s a safe, life-saving substance for those struggling with addiction to harder narcotics or dealing with chronic pain.
Dr. Katherine Pannel, medical director for Right Track Medical Group in Oxford, believes proponents of kratom aren’t telling the whole story.
“There’s a lot of misinformation about kratom out there,” Pannel said. “If you look on the American Kratom Association’s website, they tout it as a safe, all-natural alternative for energy and pain control, but they don’t tell you all the hidden dangers.”
As Dr. Pannel pointed to, both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) have established that kratom has “opioid-like” effects, triggering the same brain receptors as drugs like fentanyl and heroin.
Both agencies say that kratom has a stimulant effect at low doses, with pain control effects introduced as the dose increases. But at extreme doses of the addictive substance, kratom can be deadly.
Federal and state medical data shows medical examiners and coroners have begun attributing a rising number of deaths to kratom. 4,100 deaths between 2020 and 2022 were contributed to or caused by kratom, with 87% of those cases involving another drug in combination.
Angie Fletcher says her brother was one of the victims whose kratom addiction directly put him on a path to deadly overdose. Matt Everrett passed away in June of 2024 after what Fletcher says was a crippling kratom addiction that robbed him of his life.
“Nothing will bring him back to us, but I don’t want any other family to have to go through this as kratom is cheap and sitting on gas station shelves for anyone of any age to purchase at any time,” Fletcher said.
Mississippi is currently one of 32 states that have no regulation or restriction on the sale of kratom. While there are now more than 30 counties that have restricted or banned the product, the general lack of boundaries has caused a proliferation of kratom and kratom-type products for sale at gas stations across the state.
Dr. Pannel and others think kratom should be labeled a Schedule III controlled substance, making it only available via prescription to users.
For some, kratom can be lifesaving. An estimated one-third of the millions of American kratom users, including around 100,000 Mississippians, use kratom for the purpose of curbing a more dangerous addiction or chronic pain relief.
Christina Dent of End It For Good, a nonprofit that combats a criminal justice approach to drug use, argues overdose and abuse cases of kratom aren’t what they appear to be on paper. She says the vast majority of what is purchased in gas stations is not of the natural kratom leaf, but rather a synthetic derivative that is far more dangerous.
The lack of hard data-based understanding, coupled with wide availability and unregulated synthetic products, is where advocates and detractors have found common ground. More research and more regulation are badly needed.
“We do need more research on it, absolutely,” Dent said. “But we shouldn’t require people to go to the doctor, just like doctors didn’t want to be involved in prescribing medical marijuana and we didn’t force them to be through Schedule III. We said adults can make that decision.”
Lisha Adcock is a kratom user who has enjoyed pain- and addition-relief benefits. Dent says she’s a microcosm of millions of people who are helped by natural kratom every day.
“It gave me my life back – that’s the only way I know how to say it,” Adcock said, describing her battle with pain pill addiction that led to further substance abuse. “I was so out of control, my spending, my thought pattern – everything. When I took the kratom, it was immediate almost. It was like, ‘Oh my god, the chains have broken off of me.’ That’s what it felt like.”
While Mississippi would join 18 other states, plus Washington D.C., who restrict the sale of kratom, users like Adcock would still have easy access to the substance. But those who use synthetic kratom products would have a more difficult time.
HB 1077 not only prohibits the sale of kratom to anyone under 21, but would also levy a full ban on the synthetic kratom products that Dent points to. Specifically, the bill outlaws kratom derivative products that contain a large concentration of 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-HMG – a compound that has potent addictive properties and is more present in synthetic kratom products.
It also outlaws synthetic kratom extracts, or products that contain high concentrations of 7-hydroxymitragynine, one of the chemical components in kratom that binds to the same receptors in the brain as opioids, like codeine.
Three other kratom-focused bills have been introduced this session – SB 2355, SB 2354, and HB 1553. These measures offered similar, yet harsher limitations to the kratom products, such as Schedule III classification. All three bills died at different junctures.
Gov. Tate Reeves can offer a step in the right direction to both sides should he sign the approved measure into law. The law would go into effect on July 1, 2025.
