Tennessee Lawmakers Come to an Agreement on Kratom Law

April 26, 2018 | MKS

After much debate Tennessee lawmakers finally came to an agreement regarding the legality kratom. The issue of kratom came came to light on December 20, 2017, when the Tennessee State Attorney General issued his official court-ordered opinion regarding interpretation of the law. This opinion states “Possession of the kratom plant in its natural botanical form should not subject a person to potential criminal prosecution under Tennessee law. The kratom plant in its natural botanical form is not a prohibited controlled substance under Tennessee law.”

This statement finally put to rest any question about the legality of kratom in the state of Tennessee...until the issue re-appeared in January of 2018.

Section House Bill 1832 (SB2258) was introduced with the goal of banning kratom altogether.

After months of squabbling on the senate floor, an overwhelming vote of 86 to 2 in favor of keeping kratom legal to adults 21 and over, only in it's natural form - with the added requirement that the packaging shows a warning label.

If you would like to see what happened on the senate floor, I've included a couple videos.

The first video shows arguments from both sides, and shines a bright light on the bad science the FDA used to come to their conclusion that kratom is a "dangerous opioid"

http://tnga.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=354&clip_id=15188&meta_id=356452

The following video shows the final vote on the matter:

http://tnga.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=354&clip_id=15235&meta_id=360468

A major part of this win comes from the hard work from kratom advocate groups, and the response from the kratom community.

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