Ohio Board of Pharmacy speaks on recommendation to ban natural kratom
OLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Gov. Mike DeWine has signaled his desire to ban all forms of kratom — a plant-derived drug widely available at gas stations and convenience stores that can have opioid-like effects on the brain.
Last year, DeWine issued an executive order banning the sale of synthetic kratom, and in January — at DeWine’s request — the Ohio Board of Pharmacy recommended a rule change banning natural kratom as well.
On Monday afternoon, during a hearing of the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR), the Pharmacy Board’s director of policy Cameron McNamee said the rule change is intended to protect the public from a drug that critics say can lead to addiction and possibly even death.
“We have parents come to us saying, ‘hey my kid purchased this at a gas station, I’m concerned about other children’ or ‘hey I purchased this supplement thinking it was an energy drink and it’s ruined my life and now I’m in rehab and I’ve lost my family and my home,’” McNamee said. “I think we as regulators and as people who have to safeguard the public have to take a long hard look at that and decide what authority we have to try and safeguard folks.”
But some members of JCARR question whether the DeWine administration has gone beyond the scope of the executive branch.
Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord) challenged the authority of the Pharmacy Board to make rule changes regarding kratom, noting that those changes have been partially blocked by a Franklin County Court. Callender also pointed out that there is active legislation in both the House and Senate that would regulate the sale of kratom products but otherwise keep them legal.
“I would suggest that it’s not the Governor’s role either to make policy. That is exclusively reserved to the legislative branch in the constitution,” Calendar said. “We need to make sure that rules that come before us, first of all have legislative authority, which this does not. We are considering legislation, and have been for a while, maybe slower than we should…But that’s the legislative process.”
Neither of the active bills regulating kratom have made any progress at the Statehouse since last year, however. The Board of Pharmacy found some sympathy from JCARR members like Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City), who noted the legislature has never passed any laws regulating kratom.
“We’re here because of the inactivity of the General Assembly over the last 6 to 8 years,” Huffman said. “We’re at fault ourselves, too.”
Rep. Sean Brennan (D-Parma) commended DeWine for trying to put some restrictions on kratom, and in particular to protect minors. He also expressed his concerns about the legislature’s lack of urgency, especially given the testimony of family members who say they’ve had loved ones become addicted to the drug.
“We’re probably not going to be back again until maybe November, December, and God knows if it’ll get done then. In the meantime, people are dying and I don’t want people dying on my watch if we can do something about it,” Brennan said. “If we’re looking at least six or eight months of us not doing anything and potentially not doing anything at all, what can be done by your agency or maybe other state agencies in the meantime to at least protect children from this stuff?”
McNamee said a lot of medical providers aren’t aware of the risks of kratom and don’t screen for it during patient visits.
“From the very least we can work with our health care regulatory boards to try and educate folks,” McNamee said.
After the hearing, McNamee said the Board of Pharmacy had broken no laws and was not attempting to do an “end run” around the legislature, chalking the hearing up to “differences of opinion.”
For now, while the sale of synthetic kratom products is prohibited under DeWine’s executive order, natural kratom remains legal.