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‘It’s the wild west’: Texas legislature to decide future of kratom

‘It’s the wild west’: Texas legislature to decide future of kratom

KXAN, March 8, 2023

This session, the Texas legislature will look at two bills related to regulating kratom products – an herbal substance that can produce opioid-and-stimulant-like effects. Despite its growing relevance, research on the substance is still in its nascent phases, said Dr. Kathryn Cunningham, director of the Center for Addiction Research at the University of Texas Medical Branch. “With humans, we don’t really know how to use it properly from a medical perspective,” she said. “There haven’t been as many solid human clinical trials as we’d like. But case reports and human subjects research do indicate that there are beneficial health effects. But there are also side effects of kratom.”