ABC Announces ‘Education, Enforcement Effort to Eradicate Illegal, Deadly Kratom Products’
This is a press release from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control:
To aggressively remove illegal and dangerous products containing kratom and 7-hydroxymitragynine products from stores, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) is launching a compliance effort to ensure its licensees do not have these products on their shelves.
These potent opioid products are extremely dangerous and may lead to addiction, serious harm, overdose, and death, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). Neither illegal kratom nor 7-hydroxymitragynine products can lawfully be marketed in the United States as a drug product, dietary supplement, or food additive. Claims that illegal kratom and 7-hydroxymitragynine products can treat pain, anxiety and opioid withdrawal are unproven. Side effects of illegal kratom and 7-hydroxymitragynine products include withdrawal symptoms, insomnia and anxiety, seizures, and fatal respiratory depression.
Following guidance issued by CDPH and coupled with an extensive campaign to educate licensees, ABC will take strong enforcement action against businesses that continue to sell products containing illegal kratom and 7-hydroxymitragynine.
“We want to ensure our licensees are aware of existing laws and take steps to remove these dangerous products from store shelves,” said Paul Tupy, director of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. “We saw overwhelming compliance with illegal hemp products and fully expect to see the same with these products.”
Licensees who do not comply with the law could face criminal and administrative penalties.
In October 2023, ABC began enforcing efforts to remove illegal hemp products from licensee store shelves following an emergency regulation. Since then, ABC agents have conducted nearly 17,000 individual site visits and removed 7,357 illegal products from shelves. More than 99 percent of all sites visited have been in compliance with the emergency order, with the majority of violations occurring in the three months immediately following the emergency regulation going into effect.
Under the Sherman Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (aka Sherman Law), CDPH has authority specific to adulterated or misbranded food, drug, medical device and cosmetics. Food and dietary supplements containing kratom and/or 7-OH are adulterated pursuant to federal and state law. To date, CDPH has seized more than $5 million worth of kratom and 7-OH products. CDPH continues to take action to remove products or raw materials containing kratom or 7-OH from retail facilities selling to consumers for consumption and from locations where these products are manufactured.
These enforcement efforts are in coordination with CDPH and the California Department of Tax Fee Administration who also have jurisdiction over regulation and enforcement:
- About Kratom Fact Sheet for Local Environmental Health Agencies: This fact sheet was created to provide information to Local Environmental Health Agencies who may want to take voluntary action or educational efforts on kratom and 7-OH in their jurisdictions.
- Prohibition on the Sale of Kratom and 7-OH Products to Tobacco Retailers: This letter addresses tobacco retailers to educate and inform retailers that kratom and 7-OH products are illegal to sell for consumption and that retailers may be subject to legal actions and enforcement measures.
More information about kratom may be found on CDPH’s website here. Anyone interested in filing a complaint concerning illegal kratom products at an ABC-licensed location can visit ABC’s website. Anyone who finds kratom or 7-OH products for sale for consumption should call the CDPH Complaint Hotline at (800) 495-3232 or submit an electronic report here.
![[Stock photo from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control website]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ABC-alchoholic-beverage-control-badge-300x158.jpg){kind=icon}
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IMHO:
>”… kratom and 7-OH products are illegal to sell for consumption and that retailers may be subject to legal actions and enforcement measures.”
“Krave” katom products are advertised at the ‘smoke shop’ located at 14th/Broadway.
LEO’s might ‘pay a visit’ to that facility.
It’s openly sold at the smoke shop in Garberville next to the movie theater too
Bozo, I use a cane due to osteoarthritis in my hips. I had a morphine prescription for over a decade. I understand opiate tolerance and how it can cause uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms.
I no longer use any prescription or OTC meds including any type of supplements. The only thing in my medicine chest other than cannabis is a jar of Kratom capsules. I only use it on really bad days. It’s an opiate that helps with pain management. Much better than OTC NSAIDS or prescription NSAIDS.
Only once have I used it more than one daily dose. I’ve used it once in 2026. Because of my experience with morphine I know how to keep from developing tolerance that leads to addiction. Daily dosing will lead to tolerance development and must be avoided.
The concentrated 7-OH is to Kratom as crack cocaine is to coca leaf. It’s just asking for trouble if used regularly. When used as leaf powder in moderate doses It’s an asset for chronic pain.
It would really suck if I no longer had access.
Yup… that is an ‘appropriate’ use… both of Morphine and Kratom.
‘Coon Medical Group’ (Kelseyville/Napa) has a great reputation for Hip/Knee replacements.
I have a failing 22-year-old hip replacement, and that’s my good leg. Fucking thing is causing my knee to collapse and right now I’m unable to climb the steps to my mobile home. I’m spending $8,200 to have a chair lift installed.
Despite current problems the idea of hip replacement revision and hip replacement on my bad hip isn’t really appealing as long as my pain is managed. When I had hip replacement in 2004 I yanked out the breathing tube while under anesthesia and it paralyzed one of my vocal cords.
Why do you need to “IMHO” snitching?
We’ve never heard any over-the-top government rhetoric about any plant substances before, have we? Sounds like a similar parade of horribles is being reflexively trotted out by authority figures in government who first ban, then legalize as long as they get a cut. Watch for a kratom tax in licensed dispensaries being floated. Even now, Gavin Newsom is ending online sales of hemp-derived THC in California because he doesn’t like the way those vendors escape the sales tax on the excise tax on the government inflated value of cannabis. Beware the same symptoms around kratom. For cheap and easy opioids, fentanyl, a relatively simple synthetic substance, is more potent and more accessible than a Southeast Asian plant.
Lame. Kratom is not deadly nor is 7 oh. Many people use it to stay off of illegal and dangerous opioids. The only problem is that 7 oh appears to be extremely addictive and expensive…
not a fan of the extracts but kratom can be an extremely useful, cheaper and safer alternative to traditional opioids.
i know several people who have used it to beat their addiction to street opioids, probably saving their lives.
Same here on that last paragraph. It works for one of my friend’s pain management and he dropped all his nasty habits over time. We let him have his kratom and he’s a great, productive, hard-working member of the team