Kratom Is Still Legal In Pennsylvania After Fatal Overdoses

If you buy something at a cannabis dispensary or a vape shop, you can safely assume that it is not a drug, but it isn’t not a drug.  The likes of cannabis, psilocybin, CBD, kratom, tianeptine, and so many other intoxicating substances, including tobacco, for that matter, fit the definition of drugs according to your elementary school drug awareness class, where an elderly guidance counselor told you that a psychoactive drug is a chemical that acts on the brain, and that a drug is anything you put into your body except most foods.  This means that the delectable purple chewable Tylenol pills that make you look forward to getting a cold are drugs, and so are the chocolate that lights up your day and the coffee that lights up your parents’ day.  If only the definition of drugs were just about the digestive system, the brain, or any other body part.  Drug laws are downright perplexing, even when you are sober.  You can buy cannabis edibles from a licensed distributor in broad daylight, despite federal law listing cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance.  No one has ever died from cannabis intoxication, but they have died from kratom intoxication, and yet federal law is silent on the legal status of kratom.  If you are in legal trouble for possession or sale of a drug that may or may not be a drug, contact a Pittsburgh drug crime lawyer.

Pennsylvania Kratom Laws

Sale and possession of kratom are legal in Pennsylvania.  Kratom refers to the leaves of the Mitragyna speciosa tree, which is native to peninsular and insular Southeast Asia, and to a powder made from those leaves.  In traditional Southeast Asian medicine, people chew the leaves, smoke them, and drink beverages made from them.  In the United States, you can buy kratom at gas stations and vape shops, although it is not legal to import the live M. speciosa plant.  Kratom is usually sold as a powder or a powder-filled capsule.

In the News

The availability of kratom in Pennsylvania comes as a relief to some consumers who use kratom to help them stay away from opioids.  They say that kratom reduces opioid cravings and prevents withdrawal symptoms.  It can build tolerance and be habit forming, though, and some people have gone to drug rehab to quit kratom.  Meanwhile, at least three people in Pennsylvania have died from drug overdoses that involved kratom.  Only one of them did not test positive for any other drugs, making kratom intoxication the direct cause of his death.  The others had taken drug mixtures that also included drugs deadlier than kratom, such as xylazine and fentanyl.

Contact Gary E. Gerson About Criminal Defense Cases

A criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges for possession or trafficking of drug mixtures that include kratom or other drugs of ambiguous legal status.  Contact the law offices of Gary E. Gerson in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania about your case.

Source:

post-gazette.com/news/health/2025/01/17/bloomfield-kratom-death/stories/202501170070