As Opioid Deaths Soar, States Like Connecticut Are Banning Kratom: A Plant That Could Help

By CT CannaTimes Investigative Team

Connecticut is the latest state to ban kratom, a Southeast Asian plant used by thousands in the U.S. to manage pain, anxiety, and most critically—to taper off or avoid addictive opioids.

Signed into law on June 24, 2025, Connecticut’s Public Act 25-101 adds kratom and its key alkaloids (mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine) to the state’s Schedule I controlled substances list, treating it legally the same as heroin, LSD, and cannabis under Connecticut law starting October 1, 2025.

Yet kratom remains legal at the federal level, is not scheduled by the DEA, and is not banned by the FDA—raising serious concerns about state overreach and public health logic.

A Disturbing Pattern: States Hit Hardest by Opioids Are Banning Kratom

Here’s the truth: many of the same states suffering the worst opioid addiction and overdose epidemics are the ones banning kratom, often under pressure from law enforcement, pharmaceutical lobbies, or moral panic.

These states have banned or severely restricted kratom:

1. Vermont – #1 in opioid overdose deaths per 100,000 residents

2. Rhode Island – #3 in overdose deaths nationally

3. Alabama – Top 5 for opioid-related deaths and fentanyl exposure

4. Arkansas – #7 for overdose mortality, especially rural opioids

5. Indiana – Severe overdose spike zones, especially among youth

6. Wisconsin – Fentanyl-linked deaths rising annually

7. Tennessee – Historic overprescription crisis and overdose zones

8. Connecticut – Over 1,400 opioid overdose deaths yearly—and now banning kratom

Why Does This Matter?

Kratom is not an opioid. It activates similar receptors in small doses but is far less addictive, non-fatal in pure form, and often used by people trying to reduce or quit opioids entirely. Many use it to wean themselves off fentanyl, oxycodone, or heroin.

Yet in state after state, the response has been prohibition, not regulation.

Rather than create a public health framework (with age limits, lab testing, purity standards, etc.), these states are throwing kratom into the same legal pit as drugs that kill people every day.

This is a tragic policy contradiction: Banning a plant that might save lives, while failing to stop the tidal wave of synthetic opioid deaths.

What Connecticut’s New Law Does

• Adds Mitragyna speciosa (kratom) and its alkaloids to Schedule I
• Criminalizes possession, sale, or use — even in pure herbal form
• Equates it legally with the state’s most dangerous and addictive drugs
• Makes no exceptions for therapeutic or harm reduction use
• Passes this as opioid deaths in Connecticut continue to rise

Kratom was included in Section 4(i)(2)(D) of Public Act 25-101. It joins a list of psychoactive compounds like synthetic benzos, phenibut, and tianeptine—but without any fatalities from kratom alone ever documented in the state.

Public Health Experts Say: This Is the Wrong Direction

Researchers from Johns Hopkins and Columbia University have repeatedly warned against kratom bans, calling it a low-risk substance with potential opioid harm-reduction benefits.

Instead of investing in addiction services or safer tapering options, Connecticut and other high-risk states are criminalizing an option many former addicts say gave them their lives back.

This reflects a deeper crisis: Prohibition is being used in place of public health policy.

In Summary

Kratom is being banned in the very places it might be needed most.

These are the same states where fentanyl is flooding communities, where treatment centers are overwhelmed, and where families are burying loved ones every week due to synthetic opioids. Banning kratom will not fix this—it may make it worse.

References (Raw URLs)

• CT Public Act 25-101 (Kratom ban in Sec. 4(i)(2)(D)) https://www.cga.ct.gov/2025/ACT/PA/PDF/2025PA-00101-R00HB-06855-PA.PDF

• DEA Statement on Kratom (Not Federally Scheduled)

https://www.dea.gov/factsheets/kratom

• FDA Kratom Warnings

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/public-health-focus/fda-and-kratom

• CDC Overdose Death Data

https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html

• NIDA Opioid Overdose Stats

https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis

• Johns Hopkins Kratom Research (2020)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7031353/