E208 Kratom Crisis Policy Panel

Our quitting interviews this week fell through due to technical and scheduling issues. We will return next week to our normal format of sharing stories of people overcoming kratom addiction.

Past guest Hilary (episode #65) is now the executive director of a new organization called End Kratom Addiction. The nonprofit hosted a panel discussion: "America's Kratom Crisis Virtual Panel Discussion" for U.S. congressional staff June 25, 2026. We are replaying the audio here on our feed.

Kratom policy and legality is rapidly changing in the U.S. The DEA is propsing a nationwide temporary ban of 7-OH products, along with three related compounds – mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MP), MGM-15, and MGM-16 – by placing them into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act by early August 2026. This year Connecticut, Kansas and Tennessee all enacted full kratom bans. Kentucky passed a kratom ban scheduled to go into effect next year, and about 75 cities and counties have also enacted local bans across 12 states in 2026 alone. This panel explains why this is happening, though we realize not all listeners will agree with these actions.

Outside of the use of Suboxone for kratom addiction, the most controversial topic among our audience is whether to ban kratom or not. For the most part, we try to stay neutral on the issue at the podcast.

One thing we do want to take a stand on the issue of kratom toxicity and mitragynine lethality. It is an absolute myth that there have been 0 mitragynine-caused deaths from kratom leaf products. A new peer-reviewed study recently provided additional confirmatory evidence disproving the "zero kratom death" misinformation. While people of good faith can disagree on the issue of kratom legality, it not accurate or scientific to base your policy position on kratom never causing deaths.

Orlando Kratom Death Case Control Study: https://doi.org/10.1093/jat/bkag017

Kratom Overdose Policy Study: https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2026.2670611

More from "End Kratom Addiction: https://www.endkratomaddiction.org/

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