Legislators eye reining in ‘Wild West’ kratom industry

Montana lawmakers are considering legislation to restrict or even ban kratom, a legal drug that can give opioid- and stimulant-like effects.

Kratom is a general term used to describe the leaf of a southeast Asian tree used as a drug. It’s been banned in eight states, is regulated in about 30, and unregulated in many others. 

Tuesday, the Law and Justice Interim Committee tabled the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, but partly because legislators believe the bill doesn’t regulate kratom as strongly as it should. At least one other proposal to ban kratom is advancing in another committee, and Tuesday, many members of the public told lawmakers the substance poses a danger.

During the 2025 legislative session, several pieces of legislation to regulate kratom were discussed, but none of them became law. Since then, more kratom products have popped up in stores across the state.

Sen. Ellie Boldman supported a proposal to ban the substance in the Economic Affairs Interim Committee, which she added was a bipartisan effort.

That bill would designate kratom — specifically the chemical compounds that make it up — as illegal controlled substances, and the committee passed it.

“I voted to ban Kratom because ‘gas station heroin’ has no business being sold at gas stations in Montana,” said Boldman, a Missoula Democrat, in a text message Tuesday. “Too many Americans, especially young men, have already paid for it with their lives. I hope families are paying attention to how dangerous this drug is.”

A 2023 Tampa Bay Times investigative report said “hundreds” have died using kratom in Florida and a federal report said kratom-related poisonings and overdoses have increased approximately 1,200% in the last 10 years.

Before tabling it 8-1 on Tuesday, the Law and Justice interim committee heard a wide range of perspectives on the Kratom Consumer Protection Act. That bill would have bannned synthesized kratom, added labeling requirements for kratom-based products, and allowed the substance to be state-regulated, tested and available to those 18 years of age and older.

“I don’t think it’s strong enough,” Sen. Vince Ricci, a Livingston Republican, told the committee before the vote. “From the testimony that we heard from the doctors of St. Peter’s (Health), there’s one reason why I couldn’t support it. But I guess the biggest reason is the age limit is 18, tobacco is 21, cannabis is 21, alcohol is 21, but this is going to be 18. I just can’t support this.”

Several doctors, including Lauren Wilson, a former president of the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, gave comments about the negative impacts of kratom — both natural and synthetic.

Wilson said she’d had to give a baby morphine because the child’s mother was a kratom user and thought the substance was safe to take during pregnancy. Research has shown babies can develop withdrawal symptoms, but much of the impact of kratom on pregnant people and their newborns is unknown, according to a 2021 study published in Nature Portfolio.

“Mom was a daily user of natural kratom and wasn’t aware that it was actually that risky because it was something, in her words, that she could purchase at the gas station,” Wilson said. “So that was obviously really disturbing for the mom and disturbing for the family that this was something that was causing such trouble for a newborn baby.”

Drenda Niemann, representing the Association of Montana Public Health Officials, said her organization opposes the bill to only regulate kratom.

“There’s concern of addiction. There’s concern of withdrawal,” Niemann said. “There’s very little research understanding the interactions between kratom and other substances, and there’s long-term impacts. Those long-term impacts of kratom are still not understood.”

But some advocates for kratom pointed to anecdotal accounts of the substance being used to “step down” people from harder drugs, such as heroin. It’s cheap and readily available, with most saying they were not advocating for synthetic kratom.

It’s also the “Wild West” as far as regulation goes, said Rep. Steven Kelly, a Flathead Republican, and there was general agreement the state needs to adopt some sort of regulation in the 2027 legislative session.

Casey Hugs, a woman who testified in support of kratom, said her late husband was a heroin addict and did not have health insurance to get medically-assisted stepdown care, which includes drugs like suboxone or methadone.

“It wasn’t the first pick, but neither was being a heroin addict,” Hugs said. “And if I look at it in a harm reduction model, Suboxone is based on a harm reduction model. Methadone treatment is based on a harm reduction model. And if we can’t access those, then this is a great alternative. And if we know what’s in it, we know what the dosages are. I just don’t see why somebody should tell me that I can’t take this to make my life better.”