American Kratom Association Truth In Labeling Program Aims To Help Keep Kratom Legal By Stomping Out Kratom Vendors Who Make Impermissible Health Claims, As Well As Ridding The Market Of Contaminated And Adulterated Products
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The American Kratom Association (AKA) has launched the truth in labeling program, which aims to stomp out impermissible health claims in the Kratom industry, and rid the market of adulterated and contaminated products, in order to protect Kratom’s legality.
Essentially, there are some vendors which market that Kratom has health benefits, and this causes multiple problems. First off, as of now Kratom is legally considered a food product, but the moment that a vendor claims that Kratom has health benefits, Kratom legally becomes an unapproved/illegal drug.
Basically, the FDA doesn’t have the authority to approve or disapprove natural foods, but the FDA does have the authority to reject/approve drugs, and certainly the FDA is not approving Kratom as a drug anytime soon. Therefore, the moment that a vendor claims that a Kratom product has health benefits, it instantly becomes an unapproved drug.
This is bad for the industry, since if enough of this activity happens, where Kratom is being marketed as a drug, then the FDA will have stronger evidence to ban Kratom.
Further, it is bad for individual vendors to claim that Kratom has health benefits, since such claims could land them in prison for drug trafficking. Indeed, in May 2019 a Kratom vendor was arrested due to making health claims about his Kratom products, and he ended up losing all of his money and was sent to prison.
Therefore, it is in the best interest of Kratom vendors not to make health claims anyways, since if they do so, then they could end up in prison! Further, as explained it’s bad for the industry and Kratom’s legality for vendors to make health claims.
Beyond this, the AKA truth in labeling program will stomp out mislabeled Kratom products. Essentially, many vendors are cutting corners on lab testing in order to save money, and this can lead to adulterated or contaminated Kratom reaching the market. In the past this has led to a Kratom related Salmonella outbreak, which really gave the FDA a lot of fuel for banning Kratom. These contaminated Kratom incidents need to be avoided in order for Kratom to remain legal, and the only way to avoid it is with proper lab testing.
Further, there are perhaps even some vendors who are purposely adulterating Kratom products with addictive synthetic opioids, like the Krypton incident where Kratom products were laced with O-desmethyltramadol, which can lead to a heavy addiction and possibly overdoses. These incidents need to be stopped in order for Kratom to remain legal, and the only way to stop this is via vendors proving that they have a strong lab testing program.
Zooming out, safe and pure Kratom that is properly marketed poses no threat to the public and the industry, and the truth in labeling program aims to make this the industry standard, so that there are no more incidents of contaminated, adulterated, or mis-marketed Kratom products.
In order to enforce the truth in labeling the program, the AKA has a form at this link where consumers can report misbranded, contaminated, or adulterated products, and the AKA will investigate any reports, and then send them to the FDA if it is found that a vendor is making impermissible health claims or not performing proper lab testing.
Ultimately, it is clear how the truth in labeling program will protect Kratom’s legality, and every Kratom Warrior can do their part to enforce this program and help keep Kratom legal.