Prohibits harmful and adulterated kratom products

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Republican7

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Jessica Scarcella-Spanton says this is needed

Walk into nearly any gas station, smoke shop, or corner store in New York and you can buy kratom products off the shelf - no prescription, no age check, no questions asked. These products are marketed as natural supplements, but many of them are anything but natural. Synthetic and chemically altered kratom products have flooded the market, engineered to produce effects most closely compared to powerful opioids like morphine addictive, dangerous, and in growing numbers of cases, deadly. This is not a harmless supplement - synthetic kratom is gas station heroin. The problem is not kratom itself. Natural kratom leaf has reportedly been used for generations and continues to be used by many New Yorkers for pain management, mood support, and as a tool for managing opioid withdrawal - including thousands of veterans across our state who rely on it to manage chronic pain and PTSD. The problem is that New York law currently makes no distinction between that naturally derived product and the synthetic, chemically manipulated versions sitting right next to it on the shelf. To the law, and to the consumer, they look the same. They are not. Synthetic kratom products exploit every gap the law leaves open. They are sold openly in stores across the state with no requirement that anyone test what is in them. They are packaged in brightly colored, candy-like containers that appeal to young people, with extraordinarily little in state law to stop a teenager from buying them over the count- er. Online retailers ship them directly to New York homes with no age verification whatsoever. The result is a product that delivers an opioid-like high - with all the addictive potential that comes with it - available to anyone, anywhere, with virtually no oversight. People are getting hurt. People are getting addicted. And people are dying. New York has an obligation to act - and a proven roadmap to follow. States including Colorado, Utah, and Oregon have already enacted this exact framework: ban the synthetic products, regulate the natural ones, and back it up with real enforcement. It works. This bill does two things, and it does them clearly. First, it bans synthetic and adulter- ated kratom products outright. If a product has been chemically manipu- lated, if it contains dangerous adulterants, if it has been engineered to deliver a more powerful opioid-like effect than the natural plant would produce, it is illegal to sell in New York - period. Second, for the natural kratom products that remain on the market, it establishes the kind of basic consumer protections that New Yorkers have a right to expect from any product sold for human consumption: mandatory independ- ent laboratory testing of every batch, honest labeling, child-resistant packaging, and a strict age-21 restriction backed by real enforcement and meaningful civil penalties. This is not a bill about prohibition. It is a bill about accountability. It is a bill about saving lives from addiction and death. It draws the line between a regulated, tested product that adults can access respon- sibly, and a dangerous, unregulated synthetic that has no business being sold over the counter at a gas station, or any store in this state. New York should have drawn that line years ago, now it is time to act to prevent the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic. This bill preserves local authority, providing that nothing in this legislation shall be construed to preempt any county, city, town, or village from enacting local laws or ordinances imposing restrictions on kratom products more stringent than those provided herein.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.