![\"Blackfeet](\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/01\/BlackfeetNation-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\r\nThe Blackfeet Tribal Business Council has banned the sale, use and possession of kratom, an unregulated plant-derived substance that can have addictive properties from the tribe\u2019s reservation in north-central Montana.\r\n
<\/p>\r\nThe move, enacted via a September 12 resolution, will criminally penalize retailers selling kratom products, which aren\u2019t currently regulated at the state<\/a> or federal level. Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services did not immediately respond to a question about the potential penalties for retailers.\r\n <\/p>\r\nTribal Councilmember Lyle Rutherford said the council has not yet established criminal penalties for possessing kratom because the body must first \u201cfigure out a mechanism to enforce it.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\n\u201cWe need to make sure we have enough law enforcement to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re supposed to have a discussion this week with law enforcement and the courts.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\nBlackfeet officials said the move, an apparent first among tribal governments in Montana, is intended to prevent the proliferation of potentially addictive products that can have opioid-like effects. The tribe in 2022 declared a state of emergency for fentanyl and drug overdoses<\/a>, citing 17 overdoses and four drug-related deaths in one week.\r\n <\/p>\r\n\u201cThe main component is we just don\u2019t want any of these forthcoming issues back on our plate,\u201d Rutherford said. \u201cBecause if you look at Indian Country, or if you look across the nation, we have a nationwide issue when it comes to opiates.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\nKratom, often marketed as a mood stabilizer, has become widely sold in gas stations, vape shops and online. Some users have touted it as a way to transition off of using other substances, including alcohol and opioids.\r\n <\/p>\r\nBut kratom products are often synthesized, creating inconsistent chemical properties and potencies. Some health researchers have said that synthetic products \u2014particularly those with high levels of 7-hydroxymitragynine, also known as 7-OH \u2014pose a higher addiction risk because of their effect on the brain\u2019s opioid receptors.\r\n <\/p>\r\n7-OH products have recently come under fire by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within President Donald Trump\u2019s Department of Health and Human Services. Officials there, including Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have said they intend to restrict access to those kratom derivatives<\/a> through the Controlled Substances Act.\r\n <\/p>\r\nIn their September resolution, the Blackfeet tribal council emphasized \u201cthe potential for dependence and withdrawal symptoms similar to those experienced with opioids.\u201d The resolution also noted the lack of current enforcement by the FDA. The Blackfeet Tribe Department of Revenue sent a notice about the ban to businesses that sell or promote kratom on September 22.\r\n <\/p>\r\nRutherford said the council voted on the issue after constituents presented on the adverse effects of kratom use during prior meetings. Before that, he said he hadn\u2019t heard much about the substance.\r\n <\/p>\r\n\u201cI asked some other questions, like who\u2019s selling this? Where is it being sold at?\u201d he said. \u201cAnd a lot of it was being sold at our convenience stores. And it\u2019s becoming one of the bigger sales from our youth. So that actually threw up a major red flag.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\nKendra Gobert \u2014 a cashier at Paula\u2019s All Occasion Gifts, a retail store in Browning \u2014 said the store primarily sold kratom in the form of beverages, which she said had been \u201ca pretty popular item.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\n\u201cBefore we sold it, a lot of people in town said they had to travel out of town to get it,\u201d she said. \u201cThey were going to Kalispell and Missoula to get it. So [kratom] was bringing in some business.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\nGerard Padgett, a domestic violence advocate and former tribal prosecutor, said he saw kratom in nearly every gas station he visited this summer on and off the reservation.\r\n <\/p>\r\n\u201cYou see this thing just looking like a blissful 5-hour Energy drink,\u201d he said. \u201cI asked some doctors in my family about it. I looked online. I learned of a truly heartbreaking, tragic tale. And then it clicked for me that this is destroying people\u2019s lives.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\nPadgett said he\u2019s glad the council instituted the ban.\r\n <\/p>\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re always waiting on the feds or the state to do something \u2026 but we can do more for ourselves,\u201d he said. \u201cHere, the Blackfeet Tribe took an initiative before the state.\u201d\r\n <\/p>\r\nBusinesses and public health advocates sparred over kratom restrictions during the 2025 Montana Legislature<\/a>, presenting conflicting views that ensnared lawmakers. One bill, the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, would have regulated what types of products can be marketed as kratom and barred the sale of the products to minors.\r\n <\/p>\r\nThe legislation, which was dramatically revised throughout the session<\/a>, received blowback from lawmakers for different reasons \u2014 from Democrats who pushed for higher taxes on products sold and from Republicans who opposed any legalization route for an addictive substance. It eventually died in process.\r\n <\/p>\r\nWithout concrete state or federal action, some Montanans have been trying to rein in use at the local level. Public health agencies such as RiverStone Health in Billings have begun messaging about kratom<\/a> and the possible risks of dependency. Former users have taken to social media to warn against<\/a> purchasing the products.\r\n <\/p>\r\nNote: This story originally appeared on Montana Free Press<\/a>. It is published under a Creative Commons license<\/a>.<\/strong>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Blackfeet Nation banned the sale and use of kratom amid growing concerns about the safety of the plant-based substance.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,19,13,1],"tags":[250,101,570,945,40,6804,248,6803,6801,511,6802,249,194,5032,106],"class_list":["post-244275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-health","category-law","category-national","tag-blackfeet","tag-crime","tag-drugs","tag-fda","tag-food","tag-gerard-padgett","tag-hhs","tag-kendra-gobert","tag-kratom","tag-law-enforcement","tag-lyle-rutherford","tag-montana","tag-montana-free-press","tag-robert-kennedy","tag-tribal-courts","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-11xV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/01\/BlackfeetNation-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244275"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244335,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244275\/revisions\/244335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}