SALT LAKE CITY — A federal lawsuit has been filed to block forthcoming ban on kratom products.
Botanic Tonics, an Oklahoma manufacturer of kratom and kava products, filed the lawsuit against Utah Dept. of Agriculture & Food Commissioner Kelly Pehrson, asking a federal judge to issue an injunction blocking Utah's ban from going into effect in May. In its lawsuit, Botanic Tonics alleges Utah's new law is unconstitutional.
"This is a pre-enforcement, as-applied constitutional and federal statutory challenge," Botanic Tonics attorney Ronald Price wrote, adding that the ban would "immediately and permanently prohibit Plaintiffs from continuing to sell in 321 Utah retail locations."
"Immediate projected losses to Plaintiffs due to the statute’s ban on combination kratom dietary supplements exceed $10,704,428. To comply with the statute, Plaintiffs have notified their direct to store distributors that all kratom leaf products combined with any other ingredient must be removed from store shelves and not made available for sale as of May 6, 2026, unless action is taken by this Court to enjoin implementation of the statute," Price wrote.
The Utah State Legislature passed Senate Bill 45, which banned everything except kratom leaf from being sold in the state. Lawmakers argued there were health harms from the products, with the sponsor branding kratom as "gas station heroin." During the debate, there was a bizarre moment in the Utah House of Representatives, when a lawmaker sarcastically introduced The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Word of Wisdom, a scriptural lifestyle guide central to the faith, to push back on the ban.
