North Dakota Lawmakers Hear Kratom Debate

Fresh green kratom leaf  with kratom powder capsule. (Getty Images via the North Dakota Monitor)

(Jeff Beach – North Dakota Monitor) – Witnesses this week characterized the kratom plant as both as a dangerous and sometimes fatal drug and as a safe way to manage chronic pain and help people wean themselves off more dangerous opioids.

The testimony on kratom came during a North Dakota House Judiciary Committee hearing on House Bill 1101, which would add mitragynine, derived from kratom, to a list of controlled substances.

Supporters of the bill included the North Dakota Board of Pharmacy and a registered nurse in Watford City who sees kratom use at the addiction recovery center where she works as a problem.

McKenzie McCoy is a nurse at Providence House, a treatment center in Arnegard where she said kratom withdrawal “is worse than just a fentanyl or heroin withdrawal.”

The committee was not able to listen to all the people who wanted to testify on the bill and did not act on the bill, needing more time to review written testimony.

Olivia Martin of Minot was among those who submitted written testimony against the bill. She has watched her mother struggle with the pain that comes from living with lupus.

“Opiates usually are what is slapped on the prescription pad,” she wrote.

But she said her mother found kratom in 2016, and after researching it, began using it with little to no side-effects.

“She has been able to manage her pain with a plant compared to the alternative,” she wrote.

Martin said she now faces the same struggle.