Botanical manufacturer files lawsuit claiming Kentucky House Bill is unconstitutional

KENTUCKY, (WKYT) - Botanic Tonics, a manufacturer of Kratom products, has filed a lawsuit against the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Department for Public Health.

According to the lawsuit, a ban on Kratom products was slipped into an unrelated 400-page revenue bill.

Kratom is a natural plant product used in southeast Asia since the 1800s, and in the U.S. since the early 2000s.

Regulatory laws on the plant have been circulating through legislature since 2024 when Governor Beshear signed HB 293 into law which allowed regulations and penalties to be established for Kratom products.

Other related bills went through the legislature, and some were passed while others were thrown out.

The lawsuit states that manufacturers and sellers of the plant were “blindsided” when the revenue bill, HB 757, introduced a ban on the product in Kentucky.

Concerns have risen that this bill opens up the possibility for previously banned synthetic chemicals to come back into the state, as it allows for fully synthetic chemicals from sources other than Kratom to be sold with no limitations.

The lawsuit claims the ban is unconstitutional, citing Section 51 which states, “No law enacted by the General Assembly shall relate to more than one subject...”, and HB 757 was an Act relating to the way Kentucky is to gain revenue in the future.

[READ THE FULL LAWSUIT BELOW]

Botanic Tonics claims that this Bill will, “force existing manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to abandon their entire kratom business in Kentucky and lose all good will and brand loyalty previously established as well as all extant contractual relations needed for the maintenance of business in the state.”