The North Dakota House Judiciary Committee voted on Tuesday for a do-not-pass recommendation for House Bill 1101, which seeks to place mitragynine or kratom on the list of schedule I controlled substances.

The House Judiciary Committee received 96 testimonials in response to the bill, 69 of which were in opposition with 18 from individuals who were North Dakota residents. The bill attracted a large amount of testimony from individuals from around the country both in favor and opposition to it, with the majority representing individuals or groups advocating for kratom use.

The committee heard testimony directly from some of these individuals on Monday. Those who spoke in support of scheduling kratom included McKenzie McCoy, a representative of the bill’s requester Providence House; Mark J. Hardy, executive director of the N.D. State Board of Pharmacy; and Susan Eppard of Muskegon, Mich. whose son Matthew Eller’s death was attributed to kratom powder.

“Kratom caused him to have a seizure, go into cardiac arrest and die. His toxicology showed he died from the toxic effects of mitragynine, an alkaloid found only in kratom. He had no prescription drugs, no street drugs and no alcohol in his system when he died,” Eppard said.

McCoy, a registered nurse at Providence House, a substance abuse treatment center in Arnegard, said she became alarmed after hearing from clients describing their experiences withdrawing from kratom. McCoy said in her research she hadn’t found any health benefits or medical treatments from Kratom, and described kratom withdrawals as, “worse than just a fentanyl or heroin withdrawal.”

“People get hooked on kratom and addicted to kratom, and then they move on to other drugs because they can’t get the same effects from the kratom. Then we see them at facilities like mine where most of the patients in our care at Providence House are on Medicaid expansion or the substance abuse disorder voucher which is funded by taxpayer dollars and we are left with the aftermath and the bill to help our citizens while the kratom industry and the retailers don’t have to foot the bill for any of it. I find it very troubling,” McCoy said.

Hardy said the Board of Pharmacy had strongly considered scheduling Kratom in the Controlled Substance Bill which is currently on the Senate side, but that he felt HB 1101 was the better approach to ensure a public debate on the issue. Rep. Nels Christianson asked Hardy for data on the number of overdose deaths attributed to kratom occurring without any other substances involved, but Hardy said that kind of specific data wasn’t available at this time.

“A lot of times you will see a combination of illicit substances end up in these overdose deaths. It could be precipitating. Certainly it’s not as strong as the strong fentanyls that you may hear of, but certainly it is an addictive and highly potent substance especially at those high doses,” Hardy said.

Testimony opposing the bill was presented by Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy with the American Kratom Association and Colorado kratom activist and user Misty Brown.

“It’s been saving my life for over five and a half years. I was in active addiction for 11 years straight from 2008 to 2019,” Brown said. “Here I am five and half years later trying to keep kratom legal and keep kratom safe. My grandma lives in North Dakota. I would love to go visit my grandma with my brand new grandbaby that was just born today and not be a criminal.”

Haddow opposed the bill, and pointed to stalled efforts by the Food and Drug Administration to have kratom scheduled. Haddow said the kratom industry and kratom users alike welcome regulation of the product, which he said is also supported by a number of lawmakers in Washington D.C. from both sides of the political aisle.

“The evidence clearly demonstrates it’s helping people and banning it would criminalize them,” Haddow said. “But you shouldn’t be able to buy a product that isn’t properly labeled, properly manufactured and restricted to minors. We absolutely support that kind of regulatory model.”

The House Judiciary Committee met on Tuesday to discuss the bill. Chairman Lawrence Klemin acknowledged the resistance to the bill from the public, and said he was personally hesitant to support it in light of the fact that kratom hasn’t been scheduled on the federal level yet.

“Putting it on schedule one has consequences to people who use it or buy or sell it or get it. There are criminal penalties. So it’s very serious. It’s not just a matter of adding it to the schedule, so we have to be cognizant of that,” Klemin said.

Vice Chairman Rep. Steve Vetter motioned for a do-not-pass recommendation, which was seconded by Rep. Donna Henderson. Vetter echoed Klemin, saying he was hesitant to schedule kratom without further action by the FDA when a large number of people say they benefit from kratom use. Rep. Daniel Johnston also spoke in favor of the recommendation, saying a constituent had shared that his use of kratom had been “transformative” for his health issues, and that he was researching and working on a potential bill to regulate the substance.

Rep. Mary Schneider said she would not be supporting the recommendation based on the testimony from Eppard, McCoy and Hardy. Rep. Carrie McLeod also said she would not support the recommendation, but that she would be open to discussions of regulation.

The do not pass recommendation passed with 10 in favor and three against with one member of the committee absent.

HB 1101 was then scheduled for a second reading on Wednesday.