More US states push to ban kratom drink deemed ‘gas-station heroin’

Capsules of the herbal supplement kratom. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Capsules of the herbal supplement kratom. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images More US states push to ban kratom drink deemed ‘gas-station heroin’ At least eight states have banned the plant-derived product as more people use it and some claim it’s addictive In 2024, Maizie Hepner, 24, started visiting a bar in Dubuque, Iowa that did not serve alcohol and instead offered beverages containing kava and kratom, psychoactive substances derived from plants. The drinks were marketed as “herbal tea mocktails”. Hepner, who works as a server and bartender, said. “I asked the guy who owns” Kava Kava “if it was addictive, and he said, ‘Absolutely not’”. Hepner started going three to four times each week and then began purchasing a kratom powder from a liquor store and stirring it into her tea. “I just didn’t feel like myself without it,” Hepner said. “I would start to get sweaty and irritable.” Over the last decade, more people in the United States have started to use kratom , which can produce opioid-like effects . Some of them say they have become addicted to it and experienced bad side effects. Others argue it helps people with substance abuse issues stop using harder drugs. A Reddit group, Quitting Kratom, has more than 40,000 subscribers . In 2015, there were 43 hospitalizations in the United States linked solely to kratom, which is often sold at gas stations, smoke shops and convenience stores. In 2025, there were 538, according to a University of Virginia study . The authors stated that the spike in 2025 coincides with the emergence of synthetic versions of the drug, including one called 7-OH. Lawmakers in Iowa and other states have decided that kratom can be dangerous and started pushing for bans on the substance despite opposition from some users and people in the kratom industry who claim that only the synthetic versions of the drug are unsafe. “It is increasing the prevalence of opioid use disorder,” said Dr Andrew Kolodny, director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University. “Being able to buy an opioid at a convenience store is going to make the opioid crisis worse.” At least eight states – Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut , Indiana, Louisiana, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin – have banned kratom. Other state legislatures are considering doing the same. Some states have introduced different regulations, including bans on just synthetic forms of kratom. Kratom, which has been described as “gas-station heroin”, is “the biggest bad, and it’s one of those things where it’s kind of hard to stop it,” Breyer Ferris, manager of a smoke shop in Tennessee, told Local 3 News . The state’s ban takes effect 1 July. In Idaho, kratom was listed as a contributing factor in the deaths of 47 residents between 2021 and 2023, the state Office of Drug Policy reported. Other substances, primarily opioids, appeared in the toxicology reports of