Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill into law Thursday to limit kratom purchases to people 21 and older and outlaw more potent forms of the herbal substance in Mississippi.
The law will take effect July 1.
House Bill 1077, authored by Rep. Lee Yancey, a Republican from Brandon, institutes fines for people under 21 who buy or possess kratom and retailers that sell it to them.
It also bans 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. Kratom extracts are considered more dangerous than “pure” forms of the herbal substance because of their higher potency.
The bill protects children and makes kratom safer in Mississippi, but could have gone further to entirely ban the substance, said Yancey.
“There are some people who depend on it who are trying to get off of other opioids,” he said. “This is something that might be a step down from that and I would hope at some point they could get off of this as well.”
Any ordinances that have been adopted by municipalities or counties to regulate or ban kratom will remain in effect, and municipalities will have the option of instituting local restrictions on sales of kratom in the future.
More than thirty counties and cities in Mississippi already restrict or ban kratom products at the local level.
Critics of kratom, which can be found widely in gas stations and tobacco or vape shops, argue that it is a highly addictive and dangerous drug that produces stimulant- and opioid-like effects. But advocates argue it is an effective tool for treating opioid use disorder, chronic pain and depression.
House Bill 1077 was one of four proposed by Legislators this year to regulate kratom. A bill in the Senate authored by Sen. Angela Turner-Ford, D-West Point, sought to schedule synthetic kratom extracts as a controlled substance, but died in the House. Two other proposals in the House died after they were not brought up for a floor vote.
Dr. Jennifer Bryan, the president of the Mississippi Medical Association, urged lawmakers to schedule all forms of kratom – pure and synthetic – as a controlled substance at a House Drug Policy hearing at the Capitol Jan. 28, calling kratom “the next phase of the opioid crisis.”
State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney also spoke in support of criminalizing the drug given its highly addictive qualities.
But kratom advocates argue it has significant health benefits and that criminalizing the drug would be dangerous for people who depend on it for pain management or to satisfy drug cravings, and could create a dangerous underground market for the substance.
Christina Dent is the founder and president of End It For Good, a nonprofit advocating for a shift away from a criminal justice approach to drug use. The group has advocated against banning kratom outright, though Dent said she supports age restrictions and banning synthetic kratom.
“We need to respond in a way that acknowledges the potential risk and sets regulations around that but does not just push it into the free-for-all of an underground market,” she said.
Legislators have tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation regulating the sale of kratom in recent sessions. The House passed a bill in 2022 to make kratom a Schedule I drug and a bill in 2023 to ban kratom extracts, but both died in the Senate.
“It feels good to get something done on kratom,” Yancey said.
