If you don't know about Kratom, I am glad. Hopefully that means you never need it or want. For those of you that are kratom users to help with addiction, pain or sobriety here is what is going on in Connecticut with regards to the looming decision regarding Kratom and legislation.
As an owner of a nonalcoholic and functional drink store for the past 2 years, I have learned from customers, my community, interviewees on our podcast and my independent studies and travels across the country to learn about these categories.
CT & CA are threatening to reclassify kratom as a schedule 1 controlled substance, when the real issue is 7-hydroxymitragynine.. 7-oh as it is called is the real culprit but as most smoke shops practice, is being marketed as Kratom.
When I asked multiple local smoke shop employees what is the difference, why are customers buying it and what is it for, either no one knew or they declined in sharing the information. 7-0h is a gold mine for retailers, so why tell the truth that it is 13-15 times more addictive than morphine or that you can overdose on it?
As a responsible retailer looking to help and not harm people, I feel it is my responsibility as an advocate to bring this to your attention. On Wednesday October 15, 2025 CT is having a public forum to discuss this classification. If you would like to join in the conversation, here is the link.
https://portal.ct.gov/dcp/knowledge-base/articles/drug-control/patients/kratom-update-october-2025?language=en_US
I am also going to share what I know to date from my experience and research below. This is the letter I have submitted for public comment and for the press submissions I sent this morning.
"Dear CT,
As a person in long term recovery and advocate for options and wellness, my opinion is as follows.
7-hydroxymitragynine- NEEDS TO BE MADE ILLEGAL! Kratom ( the true plant formulated
products, with only less than 1% of NATURALLY occurring 7-hydroxymitragynine should beaccessible to those who need it. ( 7-oh is the same as 7-hydroxymitragynine but I may
abbreviate as I continue to write)
Kratom itself does have properties that interact with the opioid receptors in the brain. As a shop owner who can sell kratom in drinks, I wouldn’t carry it in my store the 1st year. I had interviewed someone whose son overdosed on kratom and it scared the life out of me. Florida had over 700 kratom related deaths just in her county at the time I spoke to her. I took this information and shared it with guests in the store. Kava and Kanna are the “K”’s that are safe and advised people to stay away from what I believed at the time was the evil “K”- Kratom.
That said, after a 30 year old suffering from all kinds of women related medical issues shared her knowledge and lack of desire to take prescriptions that cause more harm than kratom educated me more, I changed my mind. She had access to it in FL and was looking for it here.
Until her, I was in a moral dilemma. Do I carry it so that I can help those people that can use kratom to stay off drugs like heroin and solve pain issues at the risk of introducing it to people who don't have opioid issues and escalating them in the other direction? It was as vivid a thought as imagining someone with a needle in their arm and if I sold the drink that I would put them there.
I reconciled this by not displaying it for people to even inquire or get introduced to it. This wasn’tbased on law dictating my actions, but my love for humanity. I don’t sell thousands of cans, but I do have a small handful of people that come in for pain, such as menstrual cycle, surgery recovery or to stay away from substances. I feel content selling to these people because if they are asking me for it, I know they have to google it and do some research to even find me.
Even though that is the case, I still share with them what I know up to the moment and like I a sharing here. There is a HUGE difference between 7-oh and the natural leaf extract from Kratom plants. The biggest distinction is that people can overdose and go into respiratory depression from 7-oh, but studies on rats from John Hopkins University showed that kratom from the plant did not cause this.
I sell cans of drinks that have kratom, but you won’t know it, unless you come in to ask for it specifically. Once you ask, I then dig into what the guest knows, wants it for and share what know about 7-oh and kratom and explain the dangers accordingly.
There is a man on TikTok that had a substance use addiction to heroin. He is now a seller of kratom in CA. I reached out to him to interview him to learn more. That is where I learned about the research at John Hopkins, but he also listed a ton more medical sources and his personal experience as well.
Up until this conversation about changing Kratom to a controlled substance, which I believe is happening because of 7-oh and lots of misinformation, it is accessible in every smoke shop in predatory ways. Cumberland Farms started selling it on their counters so every guest can see it. When asked multiple employees there and at local smoke shops, no one could answer what it was or why people used it. THAT is the problem. Not the true kratom extract from the plants.
There is a growing movement for nonalcoholic options across the country and places called Kava bars are growing in popularity due to serving kava and kratom. Kava is non addictive and non mind altering. Kratom, in higher doses can be mind altering similar to THC. These bars heavily concentrated in FL, but sprinkled throughout the country are giving humans a choice other than the most dangerous substance, alcohol.
While visiting about a dozen of these establishments in August from here to MT, TX back to NC,it was clear that demand was in need of this option. In Denver I learned that police are testing for Kratom and are classifying it as DUI like they do cannabis. This was 2nd hand information and when I asked how a consumer would know if they were above the limit, no one had an answer. Implementing protocols like this with heavy consequences is also another logical idea.Not punishing the people who are navigating pain and aren’t on the streets recklessly driving or otherwise.
My ask is that we get rid of 7-oh completely and have hefty consequences for anyone selling to CT and selling in CT, but be open to traditional safely sourced Kratom. It is helping people and saving lives. We need to be responsible as humans and more options than the traditional ways that have led this country into the throes of so much abuse, addiction and death.
Thank you for listening.
Sincerely,
Bobbie Malatesta
3-21 No Kiddin'
John Hopkins Studies
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/2025/02/emerging-use-of-kratom-in-us-kratom-u
se-disorder-experts-propose-decision-making-algorithm-for-clinicians
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.16728