Arizona HB 2651: kratom products; enforcement; financial institutions.

Bill Text

HB2651 - 551R - I Ver 

 REFERENCE TITLE: kratom products; 
 enforcement; financial institutions.

 State of 
 Arizona

 House of 
 Representatives

 Fifty-fifth 
 Legislature

 First Regular 
 Session

 2021

 HB 2651

 Introduced by 

 Representative Biasiucci

AN ACT

Amending 
sections 36‑795, 36‑795.01, 36‑795.02 and 36‑795.03, 
Arizona Revised Statutes; amending title 36, chapter 6, article 10, Arizona 
Revised Statutes, by adding section 36‑795.04; relating to Kratom 
products.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 36-795, Arizona Revised 
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE36-795. Definitions

In this article, unless the context otherwise requires:

2. 1. "Food" 
means a food, food product, food ingredient, dietary ingredient, dietary 
supplement or beverage for human consumption.

3. 2. "Kratom 
product" means a food product or dietary ingredient containing any part of 
the leaf of the plant mitragyna speciosa.

1. 3. "Dealer Retailer":

(a) Means a person that sells, prepares or maintains 
kratom products or that advertises, represents or holds itself out as selling, 
preparing or maintaining kratom products.

(b) Includes a manufacturer, wholesaler, store, 
restaurant, hotel, catering facility, camp, bakery, delicatessen, supermarket, 
grocery store, convenience store, nursing home or food or drink company.END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 36-795.01, Arizona Revised 
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE36-795.01. Kratom product disclosure; preparing, distributing, selling or 
exposing for sale without disclosure prohibited

A. A dealer 
retailer that prepares, distributes, sells or exposes for sale a food 
that is represented to be a kratom product shall disclose on the product label 
the factual basis on which that representation is made.

B. A dealer 
retailer may not prepare, distribute, sell or expose for sale a food 
represented to be a kratom product that does not conform to the disclosure 
required by this section. END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 36-795.02, Arizona Revised 
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE36-795.02. Kratom product; adulteration; contamination; sales to minors prohibited

A. A dealer 
retailer may not prepare, distribute, sell or expose for sale any of the 
following:

1. A kratom product that is adulterated with a 
dangerous nonkratom substance. A kratom product is adulterated with 
a dangerous nonkratom substance if the kratom product is mixed or packed with a 
nonkratom substance and that substance affects the quality or strength of the 
kratom product to such a degree as to render the kratom product injurious to a 
consumer.

2. A kratom product that is contaminated with a 
dangerous nonkratom substance. A kratom product is contaminated with 
a dangerous nonkratom substance if the kratom product contains a poisonous or 
otherwise deleterious nonkratom substance, including any controlled substance 
prescribed by chapter 27 of this title. 

3. A kratom product containing a level of 7‑hydroxymitragynine 
in the alkaloid fraction that is greater than two percent of the alkaloid 
composition of the product.

4. A kratom product containing any synthetic 
alkaloid, including synthetic mitragynine, synthetic 7‑hydroxymitragynine 
or any other synthetically derived compounds of the kratom plant.

5. Any kratom‑containing product that does not 
include on its package or label the amount of mitragynine and 7‑hydroxymitragynine 
contained in the product.

B. A dealer 
RETAILER may not distribute, sell or expose for sale a kratom product to 
an individual under eighteen years of age. END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Section 36-795.03, Arizona Revised Statutes, 
is amended to read:

START_STATUTE36-795.03. Violations; classification; prohibition

A. A dealer 
retailer that violates section 36‑795.01, subsection B or section 
36‑795.02 is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor.

B. In addition to and distinct from any other remedy 
at law or equity, a person aggrieved by a violation of section 36‑795.01, 
subsection B or section 36‑795.02, subsection A may bring a private cause 
of action in a court of competent jurisdiction for damages resulting from that 
violation, including economic, noneconomic or consequential damages.

C. A dealer 
retailer does not violate section 36‑795.01, subsection B or 
section 36‑795.02, subsection A if the court finds by a preponderance of 
the evidence that the dealer retailer 
relied in good faith on the representation of a manufacturer, processor, packer 
or distributor that the food was a kratom product.

D. A state agency may not take any 
enforcement action, including seizure of product, against a person that sells 
products containing kratom or its constituent alkaloids when the products are 
offered for sale as a food or dietary ingredient, unless the United States drug 
enforcement administration classifies kratom or its constituent alkaloids as a 
schedule I substan