NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY CHANGES COURSE ON KRATOM AFTER CONSIDERING BAN

patAmidst a flurry of local lawmakers acting on bad information, one county in North Carolina defies those odds and takes a sensible approach to kratom regulation after a U-turn late in the process. 

Kratom advocates hope it’s the start of a new wave of policy as the calendar turns to 2025. 

An initial decision by the Dare County Board of Commissioners to support a potential kratom ban became a resolution supporting reasonable regulation. Rather than the quick process that led to a flurry of bans to end last year, Dare County took a close look at the matter and pulled the ripcord on opposing kratom. 

This effort started as an attempt to try and ban kratom products, or at the very least send a resolution to the state legislature to pursue such legislation. At the tail end of last year's final board meeting, the idea of targeting kratom was presented and set on the agenda for the following meeting. 

The board fully discussed the measure at that meeting on Jan. 6, 2025. Coming into the meeting, a draft resolution in opposition to kratom was on file and ready to go. 

It never got to that point. 

Derailed By Discussion

Instead, a back-and-forth between two out-of-state advocates opened up a discussion among the board that sparked a change of course on the resolution. That change will require a new resolution to be drafted, but the prevailing discussion at the meeting pointed the board in the direction of supporting a regulated kratom market. 

The two opposing voices almost perfectly encapsulated the discussion currently happening around kratom: John Shinholser, a recovery advocate from Virginia spoke about the dangers of adulterants, additives and unregulated kratom markets; on the other side was an out-of-state pharmacist, also from Virginia, who parroted the same talking points about kratom that has been used to oppose the plant for nearly a decade. 

Due to Shinholser’s testimony, and the community of kratom supporters he represents, the board took a closer look at kratom and saw a much different story than what had been laid out by the pharmacist who testified against kratom earlier in the meeting. 

When Shinholser’s comment period ended, the board members asked him to stay and answer questions, with Commissioner Ervin Bateman talking about his interaction with Shinholser’s community. In other instances, local lawmakers have dismissed support for kratom because it flooded in from out of state. This time, Bateman welcomed it. 

Although a small number of the calls he took came from constituents, Bateman said he spoke to real, honest people who talked to him about kratom and what it meant to their lives. 

“This is taking me out of my comfort zone,” Bateman said. 

Taking a Closer Look at the Facts

Due to that new perspective, others on the board took a closer look at kratom and realized some big questions were still unanswered. Commissioner Rob Ross took the lead on this portion of the discussion: If kratom was such a threat, why would the FDA leave it unregulated? Is kratom that different from other items you’d find in the supplement aisle of a department store? 

“It’s kind of a circular argument that I can’t get out of,” Ross said and continued: 

“Erv walked into a gas station and bought this 'more dangerous than Oxycodone' substance this morning, and a 12-year-old could buy it, but there is no need to regulate it? It’s leaving me in a paradox here that I can’t understand.”

Ross said it was hard to believe the extreme narrative presented on behalf of the medical community at the meeting.  

“That makes no sense to me,” Ross said. 

During that same question and answer period, the pharmacist claimed that the plant-based supplement was only available due to its status as an herbal, completely ignoring that many natural substances are both regulated and scheduled due to their safety profile. Shinholser set the record straight, reminding the board that kratom remains legal because it does not meet the criteria for scheduling. 

Under scrutiny, members of the board made it clear that the facts presented by the available medical community failed to make a compelling case against kratom. 

“What rational person at the Food and Drug Administration would concur with the statement, ‘Yes, this is more dangerous than methamphetamines but we’re not going to regulate it because it’s an herbal,’” Ross said. 

By the end of the discussion, the board had switched its stance on what type of regulation to pursue. There was discussion on the potential of the county trying to regulate kratom and enact measures similar to laws that have passed at the state level. That was shut down by the limitations of the power granted to local authorities in North Carolina. 

A majority of members who spoke on the matter echoed the sentiments presented by Shinholser in his advocacy for kratom consumers. 

“Kratom needs to be regulated,” Shinholser said. “Because of its popularity, a bunch of renegade products have popped up–adulterated products… You’ve got a bunch of pirates out there flooding the market with garbage and trash.” 

The board ultimately decided to rewrite the resolution to support robust regulation at the state level. A bill to regulate kratom was introduced in 2023 but was paired with cannabis and hemp-based products. With local authorities such as Dare County taking up the cause for a regulated kratom market, advocates are hoping that statewide regulation will get over the finish line in the upcoming legislative session. 

“We need to send some sort of a message through our public information office that addresses this, and makes the public aware,” said Commissioner Bob Woodard. “That’s another step we need to take after this resolution.”