Legality
To our knowledge, kratom is legal to possess, use and grow in all of
Europe and in the United States. However, we stress that it is your own responsibility
to check the legality of any product in your country before buying or using
it.
According to internet sources, the following countries have banned kratom:
Thailand, Australia, Burma, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Kratom has the dubious honor to be banned in the country it originated from.
In Thailand, the first prohibition law was passed on August 3, 1943. This law
makes planting the tree illegal and requires existing trees to be cut down.
This law was not found effective, since the tree is indigenous to the country.
Today, kratom is classed in the same enforcement group as cocaine and heroin
by Thai law, and has the same penalties. One ounce of extract is punishable
by death. As with prohibition laws elsewhere in the world, this has succeeded
only at increasing black market prices. A related species, Mitragyna javanica,
is often used as a substitute to get around the law, but it is not considered
as effective. Recently, kratom was also made illegal in Australia, although
growing the plant is apparently still legal.
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