A bitter, earthy green powder sold at gas stations and vape shops across Tennessee is stirring fresh concern from lawmakers, addiction specialists and mothers who say its risks are poorly understood, addictive and potentially lethal.

State Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes, R-East Ridge, co-sponsored a nonbinding House resolution that cleared the General Assembly and was signed by Gov. Bill Lee in May. Helton-Haynes said in a phone interview she wants to file a bill restricting or banning the product as early as next year.

The resolution in support of strict regulation or a ban of the product mentions Matthew Davenport, 27, who died from a kratom overdose in March 2024. His mother, Karen Davenport, 59, an acute care nurse practitioner, said by phone that had her son not died, she might not have ever learned about kratom.

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“We got the call at 5:30 in the morning that nobody wants to hear,” she said. “The interaction between kratom and his prescription medications caused him not to wake up. It made me sick to know he could purchase it at a convenience store, a gas station, a vape shop … they tried to revive him … but he was gone.”

Davenport said she’s received numerous phone calls asking her for help or information, but she doesn’t know what to do other than recommend people to a therapist. There’s an exhaustive list, she added, about what medications kratom disrupts and reacts to, but there are often no warnings on the labels.

“The doctors I’ve worked with didn’t know anything about it, but it’s changed our lives,” she said. “A lot of people are involved in kratom, from ages 12 and up, so I’ve learned. This is nothing to play with.”

Helton-Haynes said that she expects the kratom industry, which she said was worth more than $1.5 billion, and people who use kratom for pain relief to fight against any bans — making regulation look like the better option.

“This is a big thing in the legislature right now,” she said. “You can go in, buy as much as you want and self-medicate.”

Kratom is a plant-based product made from a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia. It acts as both a stimulant and an opioid-like depressant depending on the dosage level, according to Tomorrow Arnold, a licensed master social worker, Chattanooga-based therapist and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga instructor who teaches courses on drugs and behavior.

“You’ll get issues with psychosis, especially if it’s used long term,” she said in a phone interview. “Stimulants are often appetite suppressants, so you see problems with malnutrition and insomnia. You start with a stimulant effect, gain tolerance and need higher doses, which leads to it acting as a depressant.”

Kratom is a drug of concern and also carries risks of seizures, hallucinations and liver toxicity, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Some users suffer from withdrawal symptoms similar to those caused by opioids — even as others turn to kratom in hopes of easing those same symptoms.

It’s banned in six states but legal in its natural form to Tennesseans 21 and over. The drug was almost banned in 2017, but Helton-Haynes said the prohibition was amended out.

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Arnold said she views kratom through a harm-reduction lens — but believes its easy access and uncertain dosing make it especially risky.

“Professionally and personally, I don’t think you should be able to buy it at any gas station,” she said. “It’s not regulated at all. We don’t know what’s in it. We don’t know the dosing.”

Kratom’s variable effects and unclear labeling are a key worry for lawmakers. One bottle of synthetic kratom purchased by Helton-Haynes resembled a 5-Hour Energy shot — but tiny, obscure text revealed it contained four doses.

“If you buy a bottle of 5-Hour Energy, you open it up and drink it all,” she said. “This bottle was actually four doses. People aren’t going to realize it.”

Arnold acknowledged that for people unable to afford supervised addiction treatment, the herb may seem like an affordable alternative.

“But it can be dangerous,” she said. “You can go cold turkey, but most people aren’t very successful because the withdrawal symptoms are awful.”

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Medications like buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist, are better tools for managing withdrawal and cravings, Arnold said. Kratom, by contrast, may only deepen the cycle of dependence.

“I think most people see it as something they can use like an energy drink,” Arnold said. “Others think they can use it instead of fentanyl — not realizing they’re potentially making things worse because now they’re addicted to a stimulant.”

As far as the future goes, Davenport wants change.

“I want Matthew’s life to make a difference, because he was all about paying it forward,” she said. “I just want people to be aware of the dangers and not assume, because it is at a gas station, on a shelf, that it’s safe.”

Contact Mason Edwards at medwards@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-9409.