{"id":20915,"date":"2026-04-26T16:36:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T15:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20915"},"modified":"2026-04-26T16:36:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T15:36:57","slug":"kratom-faces-a-legal-reckoning-in-missouri-a-drug-abuse-specialist-watches-with-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2026\/04\/kratom-faces-a-legal-reckoning-in-missouri-a-drug-abuse-specialist-watches-with-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Kratom faces a legal reckoning in Missouri. A drug abuse specialist watches with concern"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By <\/span>Danny Wicentowski – Published April 21, 2026 at 11:18 a.m. CDT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Although kratom products are legal and unregulated in Missouri, they are facing scrutiny on multiple fronts.<\/span><\/p>\n

That pressure reached a new height last month when\u00a0state Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced a sweeping lawsuit<\/u>\u00a0against Kansas City-based CBD American Shaman. The lawsuit says the company is violating Missouri law by knowingly marketing and selling addictive products that contain the kratom compound 7-OH.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c7-OH, put simply, is a synthetic opioid that is being distributed over the counter in Missouri,\u201d Hanway said during a press conference on March 31. \u201cWe believe it is deadly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But treating kratom like a dangerous opioid isn\u2019t so simple, said addiction prevention specialist Jenny Armbruster. She leads the substance abuse prevention nonprofit PreventEd, which has been following the use of kratom for nearly a decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike opioids, kratom products are widely available in stores, gas stations and smoke shops, often advertised as energy boosters. That access, Armbruster said, creates the perception that kratom isn\u2019t harmful. The availability also sparked many questions from users, some of whom believed they could use kratom to kick addictions to other drugs \u2014 leading to a spiral of addiction.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey might be thinking that they were using a product that [did] not necessarily have the same type of dependence or addiction,\u201d Armbruster noted, \u201cand then finding themselves in a place where they are struggling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The challenge of regulating kratom is complicated by the differences in the products themselves. Not all kratom contains the same amount of 7-OH. Some kratom companies have sought to distance themselves from the compound and the related products under legal fire.<\/span><\/p>\n

That includes CBD Kratom, a company that operates 14 retail stores in the St. Louis area.\u00a0A blog post<\/u>\u00a0on its website last summer asserted that it does not sell \u201cor endorse\u201d any products with added or isolated 7-OH. The post noted, \u201cWhile 7\u2011OH is a natural metabolite found in kratom, we only offer full-spectrum, natural kratom products.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As in Missouri, kratom remains legal in most U.S. states.\u00a0Kansas recently banned<\/u>\u00a0kratom 7-OH products. In Missouri,\u00a0the City of Rolla made it illegal to sell products with the compound last month<\/u>.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Armbruster supports laws that prohibit kratom sales to minors, she cautioned, \u201cThere are still a lot of unanswered questions about the long-term impact of these types of products.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t want to villainize people who are using substances, and there can be ways that any of these products might be beneficial,\u201d she said. \u201cThe issue is that we just don’t know that for certain; there has not been widespread studies on different symptoms, [the] appropriate dosage or amount that someone might use.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The future of kratom is uncertain in Missouri. Lawmakers this session considered a bill to restrict kratom sales to people 21 and older and outlawing products that mimic candy or appeal to children. The legislation ultimately\u00a0stalled in the Senate<\/u>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of its legal status, kratom is already making an impact. For Armbruster, the challenge is reaching the most vulnerable potential users \u2014 children and adolescents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we look at the availability and the advertisements of these products, that’s really where our concern lies,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know young people. The earlier they start using a substance, the more likely they are to suffer lifelong consequences related to substance use disorder.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.stlpr.org\/show\/st-louis-on-the-air\/2026-04-21\/kratom-legal-reckoning-missouri-drug-abuse-prevention-specialist-concern-lawsuit<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Danny Wicentowski – Published April 21, 2026 at 11:18 a.m. CDT Although kratom products are legal and unregulated in Missouri, they are facing scrutiny on multiple fronts. That pressure reached a new height last month when\u00a0state Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced a sweeping lawsuit\u00a0against Kansas City-based CBD American Shaman. The lawsuit says the company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,142,92,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kratom","category-latest-news","category-synthetics","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20915"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20933,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20915\/revisions\/20933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}