BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) – One day after medical marijuana became legal in Mississippi, the state House passed legislation that would make the herbal product known as Kratom, illegal.
According to Mississippi House Drug Policy Chairman Lee Yancey, Kratom is a drug that has no medicinal value. He wants it banned in Mississippi and House Bill 681 would do just that.
“Kratom is a natural herb,” said Dr. Feel Good Botanicals owner Harry Gonsoulin. “It grows in Indonesia. It’s been around for thousands of years. Slaves used it in the field to chew on it for energy and pain.”
Yancey said that law enforcement agencies, district attorney’s offices and other groups asked him to introduce legislation banning the product because they view it as addictive.
“Opioids are a man-made chemical,” said Gonsoulin. “Opioids don’t even help pain. It covers it a little bit, but it doesn’t do anything for pain. CBD does stuff for pain and Kratom does stuff for pain.”
Kratom is derived from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree. It’s currently legal under federal and state law and available in whole leaves, powder and capsules.
Gonsoulin owns Dr. Feel Good Botanicals. He said he sells the product at all four of his locations on the coast because of the relief it provides for pain.
“When Trump shut down the pain clinics, every pain doctor in the state was sending people to me for Kratom,” said Gonsoulin. “They would tell me that their doctors were sending them to me because they couldn’t give them anything else. So why would you want to do an opioid that’s going to kill you when you have another product that is all-natural and it’s going to keep you from doing the opioids?”
HB 681 passed the House, 82-28. Gonsoulin said he doesn’t expect it to pass in the Senate. But if it does, he’ll be forced to remove it from his shelves.
“The Kratom ban is all political,” he said. “It’s all political. They are not trying to save anybody.”
The Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly voiced concerns about Kratom, but the agency has been unsuccessful in its efforts to restrict the product. Itawamba County has outlawed possession of the product within its boundaries.
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