Kratom might be legalized in Wisconsin

By David Wahlberg

Wisconsin State Journal

Kratom could be legalized in Wisconsin soon after a regulatory board agreed to provide guidance to the Legislature at the urging of a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

• The bipartisan group of lawmakers had previously voted 9-2 in favor of legalizing kratom. The 9 in favor were 6 Republicans and 3 Democrats. However, the full legislature failed to pass the legalization measure in March of this year.

• At issue is a 2014 law regulating cannabinoids such as CBD and those found in marijuana. “We believe the (2014 law) ... inappropriately included the natural alkaloids of the kratom plant,” said the June 24 letter from the nine legislators. 

• The natural alkaloids are mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine.

• The lawmakers had asked for guidance from the state’s Controlled Substances Board, which declined to weigh in. Now the Board has agreed to provide research guidance to the full legislature, before it takes up the measure again as early as January of 2023. Proponents of legalization believe that the Board’s guidance on current kratom research might tip the balance in favor of legalization.