JEFFERSON CITY (AP) — A suburban St. Louis lawmaker plans to try again on legislation to regulate a plant grown in Southeast Asia that is sold across Missouri.
Republican state Rep. Phil Christofanelli of St. Peters told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he will reintroduce the “Kratom Consumer Protection Act” in the upcoming legislative session after the plan died in the Senate earlier this year.
The 2021 bill would have barred the sale of kratom to minors and required sellers to ensure their kratom products don’t contain dangerous substances.
People use kratom for pain relief and to treat opioid withdrawal, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other conditions.
But in 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration discouraged its use because it appeared to have addictive properties.
The Post-Dispatch reported in 2019 on three deaths in the St. Louis area among people who officials say consumed too much mitragynine, which is derived from the leaves of kratom. But a lobbyist for the American Kratom Association raised doubts about the deaths at the time.