@laurie we’ll have to see what ultimately ends up in the bill, but as of now there’s more than just an age restriction.
Among other items, testing is a requirement in the current bill which is prohibitively expensive for many small vendors. The bill also contains harsh penalties for vendors who don’t comply. They would be forced to charge much more or not sell at all. Either way, they will be out of business.
The bill also appears to limit mitragynine levels on plain leaf to 2%. I find this curious since at least one AKA sanctioned vendor sells Kratom shots at gas stations and head shops that contain much higher levels. Some of their vendors also make and sell extract that also contain ridiculously high levels of mit. I think products like these are far more damaging to consumers that the odd 2.1% batch of powder.
Edit: I just read the actual bill and it appears that the 2% limit is for 7-hydroxymitraginine, not mitragynine. My understanding is that fresh leaf contains an extremely small amount and that sun drying can increase it by a very small percentage, but nowhere near 2%. Maybe it’s a typo?
My fear is that these bills will end up wiping out many of the smaller vendors and leave us with a handful of higher priced lower quality ones.
