NJ trying to regulate this drug — which avid users say is better than coffee

⚫ Kratom instead of your morning coffee in New Jersey?

⚫  A kratom group says the herb has gotten a bad rap

⚫  They’re supporting efforts to regulate kratom in NJ

New Jersey could soon take action to regulate kratom, an herb from Southeast Asia that reportedly can cause a wide variety of symptoms including increased alertness, hallucinations and confusion.

According to Mac Haddow, a senior policy fellow at the American Kratom Association, even though natural kratom does not give a user a euphoric high, it should be regulated to protect users.

We want NJ residents to be confident

“We want them to have a higher level of confidence that when they walk into a New Jersey store and they purchase a kratom product they know it’s not going to adulterated,” he said.

He said regulating kratom will also ensure “that it’s going to be labeled properly, that it’s not going to have synthesized alkaloids, which is one way to boost the effects of kratom, that it’s going to have an age limitation on it.”

Kratom regulation in New Jersey could come soon

New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick, R-Union, is sponsoring a kratom regulation measure, S3549 that would prohibit the sale of kratom to anyone under the age of 21.

Haddow said the Food and Drug Administration should be cracking down on companies selling adulterated kratom products, but in the absence of that happening state by state regulation is an important step forward.

What’s it good for?

He said coffee is the drug of choice today because it contains caffeine “in order to give us an alerting effect, increase focus, some people use it because they say it reduces my anxiety. Kratom does the same thing, perhaps a little more effectively.”

He said some people also use kratom, which can be taken in pill form, smoked or blended as a tea, to help them break free from different addictions.

“The people of New Jersey should have access to a product that is not adulterated or synthesized, properly labeled with how many servings you should take in a day.”

Haddow said kratom education is growing and 5 states that had banned kratom are now working to lift those bans.

He noted the Drug Enforcement Administration has listed kratom as a drug of concern because of biased reports of negative side effects from adulterated kratom products that contain other substances like fentanyl or morphine.

David Matthau is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at david.matthau@townsquaremedia.com

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