Utah committee backs bill to tighten controls on kratom after hours of testimony

Senator McKell, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee he had purchased kratom from multiple stores and found products that were “incredibly potent and incredibly harmful,” and urged lawmakers to act after what he called mounting evidence of harm.

Medical witnesses described rising reports of harm. Dr. Ryan Stoworthy, an emergency physician, said emergency departments increasingly treat kratom overdoses and withdrawal and that his hospital cared for a patient in the prior four months whose death was believed to involve kratom. Dr. Michael Moss, medical director of the Utah Poison Control Center, said kratom-related reports to the center have “doubled” in the last year or two and that the purified alkaloid 7‑hydroxymitragynine (7‑OH) is “very potent” and can cause…