Kratom becomes the latest age-restricted product in Florida. What to know

Like alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets, kratom is now another age-restricted product in Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis last month signed a bill where products containing the plant Mitragyna speciosa can only be sold or given to people older than 21. The law went into effect July 1.

Kratom is from Southeast Asia and is part of the coffee family. The leaves contain two psychoactive ingredients. Consuming kratom in small amounts can lead to a stimulant effect, and in larger amounts, it acts as a sedative.

The plant’s effects are felt by consuming capsules or an extract, brewing it in a tea or by chewing on its leaves. The new Florida law considers any age-restricted “kratom product” to include “food product, food ingredient, dietary ingredient, dietary supplement,” a drink that includes any part of the kratom leaf, or an extract or synthetic derivative of the plant in powder, capsule, pill, drink or other edible form.

Florida joins Arizona, Utah and Georgia among the states restricting the substance with their own Kratom Consumer Protection Acts. In the Sunshine State, it’s now a second-degree misdemeanor to violate the law, which can come with a fine up to $500 and as many as 60 days in jail.

But in one Florida county, kratom cannot be sold. Sarasota County banned the substance in 2014 after a state survey two years prior found that the county’s high school students had used synthetic marijuana, also known as K2 or spice, at a greater rate than other students in the state, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

The ban was a preemptive measure when the county outlawed “designer drugs” like synthetic marijuana and bath salts, thinking kratom might be sought out to fill that void.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration considers kratom a “drug of concern,” along with the cough suppressant dextromethorphan, known as DXM, and Salvia divinorum, an herb in the mint family that produces hallucinogenic effects.

Kratom is outright illegal in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Vermont and Wisconsin. The Rhode Island House of Representatives voted to legalize kratom this year after the state had banned it in 2017.

Viewpoints on new Florida law restricting kratom are mixed

The reaction to the age restriction on kratom is mixed.

Some who work in smoke shops where kratom is sold say the law probably won’t affect business.

“I think it’s fine,” said Felix, who works in a Fort Lauderdale smoke shop and asked that his last name not be used. “Most of the products are 21-plus, anyway.”

But when Ryan Lunt turned 18, he was told kratom “wasn’t as intensive as marijuana” and gave it a try. It started as a social thing to do while hanging out at the kava bar on Friday nights. Then kratom became a tool to help him focus on studying at Florida State University.

More: Kratom supplier owes millions to family of South Florida nurse who overdosed and died

“I do feel like 18 is probably the optimal age, but 21 is not too far away,” said Lunt, who works as a “kavatender” at a kava bar in Tallahassee. Kava comes from a different plant than kratom, and is typically consumed in drink form for its relaxing effects.

Some who are recovering from addiction use kratom in place of alcohol or drugs, while others credit the substance for helping with pain or anxiety.

But it is possible to overdose from kratom. In May, an Idaho-based kratom manufacturer was ordered to pay $4.6 million to the family of a 39-year-old Boynton Beach woman whose cause of death was determined to be “acute mitragynine intoxication.” Mitragynine is an alkaloid found in kratom.

Maureen Kielian of Southeast Florida Recovery Advocates said she doesn't knock anyone who uses kratom on their journey toward sobriety. Understanding that not all kratom users are recovering from an addiction, she added that legislators should have focused on expanding treatment for mental health and substance-abuse disorders as well as Medicaid rather than restricting kratom.

"Our legislators have no license to make medical decisions and no right to choose who gets treatment," she said.

More: FDA warns about herbal drug kratom, used for pain relief: What to know about side effects

Lunt felt that in 2016 when the DEA mulled listing kratom as a Schedule I drug — like heroin, marijuana, LSD and ecstasy — it created a “fear-driven narrative” around the product. But people should be mindful about the amount they ingest.

“The substance has been around for a while,” Lunt said, knowing people who have been drinking kratom for more than a decade. “I believe that if there was a serious issue to be had, we would see a lot more of an epidemic level of danger in people consuming kratom.”

Hannah Morse covers consumer issues for The Palm Beach Post. Drop a line at hmorse@pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on Twitter @mannahhorse.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Kratom in Florida can now only be bought if you are 21 or older