What You Need to Know About the Kratom Consumer Protection Act

The Kratom Consumer Protection Act or KCPA is a tool that kratom advocates can use to help lawmakers regulate the kratom industry. It helps to combat efforts to make kratom illegal and protect access to kratom for adults. Let’s explore what the KCPA is and why it is an important tool for kratom consumers and businesses that import, manufacture, and sell this important ethnobotanical.

Education and Misinformation

Kratom has been available in the United States for more than a decade, but many consumers have never tried it. It is gaining popularity as more people become aware of its existence, but it still has a long way to go to be considered mainstream. Many people who might benefit from kratom simply don’t know about it, and what they may hear about it could be untrue.

Misinformation about kratom can be found anywhere and it can affect lawmakers who have the ability to ban kratom in your state. This problem is compounded when agencies we depend on for factual information present skewed data in reports that lawmakers find essential for informed decision-making.

The Responsibility of the FDA

The US Food & Drug Administration is charged with protecting the consumer from dangerous foods and drugs. When it comes to kratom, the material they distribute to government agencies (including the DEA) may be poorly researched and contain inaccurate information. For example, they have warned states about the danger of kratom by citing harm from adulterated products. This unfairly associates kratom with harmful substances.

Removing toxic products from the marketplace protects public health and the kratom industry, and it is thus one of the goals of the KCPA.

Bad Research, Bad Laws

Because there is no Federal KCPA (more on that later), states have been left on their own with how they handle kratom. The result is an unpredictable landscape of laws based on inaccurate information that can make kratom users criminals if they step into another state, or, as in Florida and elsewhere, if they walk across the street or visit a neighboring county or township. It also drains state budgets because it costs money to enforce bans.

The KCPA is designed to eliminate these problems.

How The KCPA Works

To help states maintain kratom legality and protect public health, the KCPA offers guidelines that address the biggest issues about kratom that concern lawmakers. It is a living document the state may alter in any way they see fit, and the final details vary from state to state. There is a Florida KCPA (enacted in 2024), a Utah KCPA (2019), an Arizona KCPA (2019), and others.

Each state has different wording in its version of the KCPA, but they all address the most important topics.

Kids and Kratom

There is no proof that kratom represents a major public health threat to children or that children are attracted to kratom more than they are attracted to other similar nutritional supplements. However, the KCPA addresses this possible concern by recommending that kratom be made illegal for individuals younger than 18 or 21, depending on the state.

To further discourage use by minors, the KCPA addresses the use of iconic characters and “child-friendly” labels that are designed to attract minors. Depending on how this is implemented, labeling requirements may prohibit playful fonts, bright colors, and the use of some or all celebrity images or icons that may appeal to children.

Adulterated Products

The KCPA prohibits the sale of kratom products that are enhanced or fortified with dangerous adulterants. Depending on how the KCPA is worded, this may include natural substances and synthetic products.

Alkaloid Levels

The KCPA may call for limits in the level of specific alkaloids in kratom, like mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. It may also prohibit or limit the sale of synthetic forms of these alkaloids, and limit the sale of artificially boosted products that contain unnatural alkaloid levels.

Public Display

To discourage shoplifting, which would theoretically allow prohibited individuals to get their hands on kratom, the KCPA recommends that kratom products be kept in a limited access area. This could be a glass case, behind the counter, or in a similar place that is accessible by employees only.

Labeling

To help consumers who may know nothing about kratom, labels must include a recommended dosage, information about the duration of effects, and how much of the product can be taken in a given time period. The label cannot make express claims about any properties that kratom may have, or how it might improve specific conditions.

The Federal KCPA

The uneven regulatory environment around the country hurts consumers and the economy, but it may be corrected by the Federal Kratom Consumer Protection Act, bill S3039 in the Senate, and HR5905 in the House of Representatives of the 118th Congress of the United States. This legislation is similar to the state KCPAs that have been implemented with success and take them a little further.

The Federal KCPA calls for protection for kratom from over-restrictive rules that would go beyond the standard regulations on food, cosmetics, and drugs that are part of the current Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. It calls for scheduled reviews and the creation of a Kratom Research Task Force to provide additional data to be used for making informed decisions.

A federal KCPA may level the playing field in the market so kratom may be safely offered alongside similar nutritional supplements. This legislation was introduced to Congress in 2023 and is currently in committee in the House and the Senate.

Consumers Want Legal Kratom

Many Americans want to be proactive when it comes to healthcare decisions, and they want to have the right to obtain safe products without fear of breaking the law.

Consumers who live in states where kratom is legal and do not have a KCPA may be in the most danger. They may be exposed to adulterated forms of kratom due to a lack of regulations concerning the content of products, and their rights to access kratom may disappear without warning. Some businesses, like the pharmaceutical industry, may see kratom as a threat to their profitability, and they may influence lawmakers to ban kratom, a tactic that has worked for years to limit the cannabis market.

So even if kratom is not banned in your state, a KCPA can help to keep it legal and make products safer.

Keeping Kratom Safe & Legal

While consumer and industry advocate groups like the American Kratom Association can help keep kratom legal, nothing beats an email or letter sent directly to your state or federal representative by a registered voter. Communication like this can help ground the topic for lawmakers and put a face on legislation. When lawmakers know that voters have an opinion about kratom, they may be more willing to conduct additional research and better serve the public.

You can help keep kratom safe and legal in your state by staying politically informed. This may seem boring, but it is essential if you’d like to protect your rights, not just your right to use kratom. Stay informed, register to vote, and exercise your power as an informed member of the electorate.