In attempting to ban kratom and derivative products, Kansas is fighting the wrong drug war

Kratom is derived from the leaves seen here, but U.S. consumers of the drug will often encounter it in a powder or capsule derived from plant. (iStock / Getty Images Plus)

The headlines may have faded, but the opioid crisis is not over in Kansas.

In 2023, the most recent year for which we have data, 653 Kansans died from drug overdoses. That number can sound abstract until you picture what it means. It is roughly the population of a small Kansas town, about the size of Clyde or Hanover. It also represents the loss of hundreds of friends, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, moms and dads, along with the futures they never got the chance to live out.

The crisis is driven increasingly by fentanyl. Fentanyl is involved in more than half of the overdose deaths in our state, according to the CDC. Fentanyl is cheap, extremely potent and is often mixed into other drugs, meaning overdoses can happen quickly and without warning.

The reality is that most people do not choose fentanyl. They turn to it because they are in pain, they are stuck, and the system is not meeting them where they are. Since the opioid crisis began, doctors have prescribed fewer prescription opioids, even to chronic pain patients. Out of desperation, some of them turn to fentanyl.

A bill in the Kansas Legislature, Senate Bill 497, could make the problem even worse. The bill would criminalize products made from kratom and its derivative 7-OH, which many Kansans use as an alternative for treating chronic pain when prescription opioids are ineffective or unavailable. Kratom is a plant from Southeast Asia that has long been used for pain relief. While many adults use these products safely, Kansas lawmakers want to classify kratom as a Schedule I substance, the same legal category as heroin.

At a moment when fentanyl is killing hundreds of Kansans a year, lawmakers should focus on reducing harm, not removing safer alternatives that may lessen overdoses.

In my own case, I have lived with chronic back pain for most of my life. Anyone who has not lived with constant pain may not understand how exhausting and consuming it can be. Anyone who deals with long-term pain knows the routine: constant doctor visits; expensive prescriptions that help only a little, if at all; long drives to find someone willing to listen; and days when the pain makes it impossible to work.

I was lucky, though. I found products made from 7-OH,which did something many other options had not: made the pain manageable.

Supporters of SB 497 claim that kratom and 7-OH are unsafe and should be banned. If that is true, Kansas lawmakers should be able to prove it. Before banning products that many adults rely on for pain relief, they should present credible evidence linking them to overdoses or other serious harms in Kansas.

Increasingly, critics point to the small number of toxicology reports from overdose deaths where kratom or 7-OH appear alongside other substances: often drugs that are dangerous, illegal and fully capable of causing overdoses on their own. But presence in a toxicology screen is not the same thing as proof of causation.

Without clear evidence that kratom or 7-OH are independently driving overdose deaths in Kansas, banning them risks targeting the wrong substances while ignoring drugs such as fentanyl that demonstrably cause deaths.

Kratom and 7-OH may sound unfamiliar, and the unfamiliar can feel frightening. But good public health policy focuses on managing risk, not eliminating the possibility of risk altogether. Kansas could regulate these products with age limits, independent testing, clear labeling, serving-size limits, and standards for retailers and manufacturers. That would allow chronic pain patients to keep using what works for them, while ensuring kratom and 7-OH are safe.

This state does not need another policy that sounds tough but makes things worse. Banning kratom and 7-OH would not end demand, reduce pain or save lives. It would push vulnerable people toward riskier options and unregulated markets.

Kolby Steiner is a chronic pain patient who lives in the countryside outside Lincolnville. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.