CONNECTICUT COMMITTEE TO DECIDE FINAL FORM OF PROPOSED KRATOM BAN

Despite developments in the case for natural kratom and against ‘enhanced’ products masquerading as natural, authorities in positions of power are finding new, discreet ways to target kratom products at the state level.

But it’s not too late for advocates to push back. 

Lawmakers in Connecticut snuck a bill through the legislature at the last minute during the 2025 session, and it could leave local customers caught in the crosshairs of a misguided prohibition push. Rather than embracing regulatory measures by listening to the prevailing science and following the footsteps of federal agencies, policymakers have ignored appeals from kratom advocates and sit one step away from ratifying the bill that would make all kratom products a controlled substance in the state. 

Kratom’s fate in the state of Connecticut will be decided next month when the Legislative Regulation Review Committee (LRRC) considers a wide-ranging bill that would make kratom a controlled substance in the state. The LRRC is a bipartisan committee made up of 14 lawmakers, split evenly along party lines, that aims to ensure that regulations that become law “do not contravene the legislative intent, or conflict with current state or federal laws, or state or federal constitutions.” 

The Case for Natural Kratom

Advocates for responsible kratom products are hoping to encourage the LRRC to create an exception for natural leaf kratom, similar to the position of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The bill in question was passed before the FDA announced a campaign to target 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), which is an alkaloid found in natural kratom leaf but only in trace amounts. 

After years of painting kratom products with a broad brush, the FDA announced it was not targeting natural leaf kratom and made a clear distinction between those products and the artificially enhanced 7-OH products on the market. Now, advocates are hoping the LRRC can apply that reasoning to the proposed law in Connecticut. 

The process to make kratom a controlled substance in the state started when the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) appeared in front of a legislative committee to request wide-ranging authority over a variety of products and substances being sold in the state. That included kratom, although there was no specific mention of whether the DCP was targeting natural kratom products or those with elevated amounts of 7-OH. 

At the time of that hearing, advocates for kratom, including a professor at the University of Connecticut, made the case for allowing natural kratom products, while targeting concentrated 7-OH products. That professor, Dr. Michael White, even went as far as to tell the committee that he would work with them to establish kratom regulations in the state and develop a Kratom Consumer Protection Act to offer protections against dangerous products.  

That process ultimately led to a 37-page bill titled “An Act Concerning the Department of Consumer Protection’s Recommendations Regarding Drug Control and Cannabis and Hemp Regulation.” The bill passed through both houses of the state legislature in June of 2025 during the final hours of the session. Despite its name, the bill contained a clause that gave the Commissioner of Consumer Protection the power to designate a list of substances that had nothing to do with cannabis or hemp “in the appropriate schedule.” That list included “Mitragyna speciosa (kratom), including its leaves, stem and any extracts.” 

Appeals from Advocates

At the time, advocates urged Gov. Ned Lamont to issue a line-item veto to exclude natural kratom products from the list of items to be scheduled. The bill separated 7-OH from natural kratom products, giving Lamont a chance to remove the clause focusing on natural kratom leaves. Lamont signed the bill as it was written. 

Instead, the state opted to hold a public hearing in October of 2025 and gave the opponents of the bill a chance to speak out against the proposed action. The hearing lasted more than six hours, and despite the pushback against heavy-handed restrictions, the DCP claimed it could decide how to schedule the substances listed in the legislation, not the authority to remove any products from that list. 

“The legislature decided that the substances, including kratom and 7-OH, shall be controlled substances and shall be scheduled,” claimed the committee. “Therefore, the substances are controlled substances, and the department does not have authority to leave the substances unscheduled.”

By that logic, the department decided to proceed with plans to make all forms of kratom a Schedule I substance in the state. The department formally submitted its recommendations to the LRRC on Dec. 22, 2025. Per state law, the measure must be considered within 65 days of its submission, and the proposed regulations were put on the agenda for the Feb. 24 meeting of the LRRC.

That means that the LRRC will make its final decision by midnight of Mar. 12 on whether or not to criminalize the sale and possession of kratom in Connecticut. Advocates are encouraging responsible kratom consumers to reach out to members of the LRRC before the February meeting in search of an exception for natural kratom products. 

Although the FDA hasn’t formally adopted a new position, advocates are hoping that Connecticut lawmakers will consider the agency’s revised stance on leaf kratom and create the same accommodations for products with natural alkaloid profiles.