Navigating Georgia’s New Kratom Regulations: What Retailers, Manufacturers, and Consumers Need to Know

Next time you fill up your gas tank, check out what the grocery store has to offer. You’ll see flashing lights advertising kratom, and if you go inside, you’ll see displays of powders, capsules, extracts, and gels. Sometimes kept behind a closed glass case, sometimes behind a counter, kratom is available to anyone over 18, much like cigarettes. Kratom isn’t sold in big box stores, but it’s a billion-dollar industry in the United States. For the uninitiated, you may be wondering, what is Kratom? According to Georgia’s current legal definition, kratom is “a tropical evergreen plant known as Mitragyna speciosa, which is native to Southeast Asia and contains the alkaloid mitragynine.” OCGA § 16-13-120. Historically, Kratom leaves have been used as an ingredient in herbal medicines that can be chewed, smoked, and brewed into tea. The leaves are filled with over 40 chemical compounds called bioactive alkaloids. The main alkaloids, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, activate the same receptors in the brain as opioids.

While it is unclear when Kratom entered the U.S. market, its use increased dramatically between 2011 and 2017. The DEA considered reclassifying Kratom as a Schedule I drug in 2016, but outcry from the public and the scientific community caused it to change course. Today it is widely available in convenience stores, local stores and smokehouses.