BOISE, Idaho — Despite efforts by Idaho lawmakers to regulate or ban kratom, no new laws were enacted during the latest legislative session, leaving the substance unregulated and the debate ongoing.
“I had a really bad knee injury, and it was my first run-in with opioids, and I got hooked after being on them for 10, 12 months,” said Chris Deoudes, owner of Happy Hippo, a local kratom retailer.
Deoudes said he turned to kratom as an alternative and has not used opioids since.
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“I found this chat board and I found kratom and I decided to order some, and I have not needed to use opioids since,” he said.
More than two decades later, Deoudes is now watching closely as lawmakers consider how to handle kratom in Idaho.
During the session, lawmakers introduced multiple bills addressing kratom. Some proposals focused on regulation, including age restrictions, labeling requirements and product testing. Others sought to ban it entirely.
One bill, House Bill 864, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pohanka, would have classified kratom as a Schedule I controlled substance, making it illegal to sell or possess in Idaho. The bill did not advance.
Pohanka said he heard from families who believe kratom played a role in the deaths of loved ones and expects the issue to return in a future legislative session.
Deoudes said he is not opposed to regulation but supports a different approach.
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“This product helps so many people,” he said. “We need the feds to regulate, we need states to regulate too.”
He supports measures such as age restrictions, clear labeling and limits on synthetic compounds like 7-hydroxymitragynine, often referred to as 7-OH.
“That is not kratom at all. It’s called 7-OH-7-hydroxymitragynine. These are full opioid agonists, and they’re about 100 to 500 times stronger than kratom,” Deoudes said.
In a previous report, a doctor told Idaho News 6 that compounds like 7-OH can be significantly more dangerous and are not always clearly labeled.
“Consumer safety and legal access, they’re not opposites. Idaho can really do both,” Deoudes said.
Lawmakers debated multiple approaches this session, but none passed, leaving kratom unregulated for now.
All sides of the kratom conversation agree, the issue is likely to come up again in a future legislative session.
