Once again, kratom ban in Louisiana lawmakers are trying to legislate fear instead of facts. Senate Bill 154 would outlaw kratom entirely — a plant that thousands across the state rely on for relief, recovery, and resilience. It’s a move that speaks more to political performance and social control than public health.
Let’s get this straight.
SB 154 doesn’t regulate kratom. It criminalizes it. The bill would make it illegal to possess or sell a natural herbal supplement that people use every day to manage pain, stay sober, and avoid pharmaceutical opioids. That includes veterans, working-class parents, and recovering addicts — people with stories worth listening to, but apparently not to the Louisiana Senate.
Meanwhile, there’s another proposal — House Bill 253 — that would actually protect consumers. That bill would establish guardrails: testing, labeling, age limits. You know, the kind of oversight that makes a market safer instead of driving it underground. We support HB 253. It’s thoughtful. SB 154 is reckless.
The American Kratom Association, a leading national advocacy group for kratom consumers, has publicly endorsed HB 253 and opposes SB 154. They argue that HB 253 provides necessary consumer protections without criminalizing responsible use, while SB 154 would unjustly penalize individuals who rely on kratom for pain management and recovery. The AKA has been actively encouraging Louisiana residents to support HB 253, emphasizing the importance of regulation over prohibition.
Let’s talk about what kratom really is.
Kratom is made from the leaves of a tropical tree in Southeast Asia. People have used it for centuries to reduce pain, enhance mood, and treat opioid withdrawal symptoms. It’s not a synthetic drug. It’s not fentanyl. It’s not heroin. It’s a tea. A bitter one at that.
You know what actually kills people in Louisiana?
Alcohol and tobacco.
According to public health data, alcohol causes over 2,278 deaths annually in this state, and tobacco kills more than 7,200 people every year. These substances fuel car accidents, domestic violence, cancer, liver failure, and countless other crises. Yet we regulate them. We educate about them. We tax them.
We don’t ban them.
So why the double standard?
Why are lawmakers going after kratom — a plant with zero confirmed deaths from use in isolation, and often the only thing standing between a former addict and a fatal relapse?
Because banning kratom is easy. And it plays well to law-and-order hardliners, pharmaceutical interests, and those who stand to profit from incarceration. Just follow the money: the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association supports the ban, and they’ve made a habit of pushing similar crackdowns nationwide, year after year, always in lockstep with the drug war’s worst instincts.
Let’s talk about what’s really fueling this.
The pharmaceutical industry has every reason to fear kratom. It’s a natural, non-patentable alternative to the synthetic opioids that made them billions — and killed hundreds of thousands. Kratom doesn’t require a prescription. It doesn’t go through a pharmacy. It doesn’t pad shareholder portfolios. That makes it a threat, not a product. So what happens? Lobbyists whisper in the ears of lawmakers, and suddenly the same industry that profited off the opioid crisis gets to shape the laws meant to “protect” us.
Meanwhile, the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association continues its yearly campaign to expand the drug war under the guise of public safety. This is the same drug war that gave us mass incarceration, militarized policing, and a system that targets addiction with jail time instead of treatment. Every new substance they can criminalize means more arrests, more funding, more asset forfeitures, and more justification for bloated budgets. It’s not about safety. It’s about self-preservation.
This is how the war on drugs works — not by solving public health crises, but by feeding them. The cycle is simple: outlaw a substance, arrest the vulnerable, ignore root causes, and repeat. The communities most impacted? Poor and working-class. And kratom could very well be the next front line in that war.
And let’s not pretend this is about public safety.
If it were, lawmakers would be cracking down on the unregulated gas station kratom shots — the real risk to consumers. These products are often cut with caffeine, synthetics, or other dangerous additives. It’s not pure kratom causing harm. It’s the lack of consumer protection. That’s exactly what HB 253 aims to fix.
But SB 154? It’s prohibition dressed up in a panic. It’s moral posturing at the expense of real lives.
Ask the regulars at Euphorbia Kava Bar in New Orleans — a hub for artists, doctors, lawyers, and creatives who gather to sip kava or kratom tea and build community. You won’t see drunken brawls, car wrecks, or the kind of carnage that comes from legal booze. But you might see people who’ve found a healthier alternative to alcohol. You might see someone who kicked heroin for good.
If SB 154 passes, those people become criminals.
And the irony? The very same lawmakers — mostly Republicans — who scream about liberty, who rail against “government overreach” and “nanny-state politics,” are the ones leading the charge to outlaw your right to choose what you put into your body.
The hypocrisy is staggering.
This is not about protecting people. It’s about controlling them. It’s about criminalizing the poor. It’s about making sure Big Pharma has no natural competition. And it’s about giving law enforcement yet another excuse to lock people up.
We’ve reported on these efforts before. Last time, Louisiana tried to ban kratom, Big Easy Magazine covered the fight and the people won. The bill failed. And lives were saved.
Now it’s happening again.
SB 154 must be stopped. And HB 253 should be passed with amendments to ensure affordability and access. Don’t fall for the fearmongering. Don’t let them strip away your choices under the guise of safety.
This is a fight for freedom, science, and compassion. And we’re not backing down.
