A Georgia bill regulating Kratom , aimed at preventing overdose deaths and other medical issues, takes effect Wednesday.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot reported on the legislation after the bill passed and was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp in May.
Elliot spoke with John and Dana Pope, who pushed for the regulations after their 23-year-old son, Ethan, died of an accidental overdose of the herbal supplement in late Dec. 2021 in Cobb County.
Starting Jan. 1, per the law’s provisions, Georgia is regulating Kratom, a substance made from the Southeast Asian plant Mitragyna speciosa and used as a pill, brewed as a tea, crushed or smoked.
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As Channel 2 Action News has reported in the past , Kratom is often used as a mood booster, energy supplement and pain reliever, and has also been used often by people suffering from opioid withdrawal or substance use disorder.
Even as far back as 2017, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Chief Medical Examiner Dr. John Eisenstat said Kratom had caused five deaths in 2016 and another 11 in 2017, as of that November.