Senate 985

WEST virginia legislature

2026 regular session

Committee Substitute

for

Senate Bill 985

By Senators Thorne, Deeds, and Azinger

[Reported March 2, 2026, from the Committee on Finance]

A BILL to amend and reenact §19-12F-3, §19-12F-6, and §19-12F-11 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend the code by adding a new section, designated §19-12F-12, relating to the registration and enforcement of kratom products; amending definitions; requiring age verification; requiring the Department of Agriculture to notify the Tax Department on certain violations; clarifying administrative penalties; and requiring the Department of Agriculture to employ a software management system.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 12F. SELECT PLANT-BASED DERIVATIVES REGULATION ACT: KRATOM.

§19-12F-3. Definitions.

(1) "Alcohol Beverage Control Administration Commissioner" means the West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration Commissioner or his or her designee.

(2) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Agriculture or his or her designee.

(3) "Contaminated" means made impure and unsafe by biological, chemical, or physical additives.

(4) "Department" or "Department of Agriculture" means the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.

(5) "Kratom" means a psychoactive preparation that is composed of the crushed or powdered dried leaves of the mitragyna speciosa, a lowered tropical tree which contains the alkaloids mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine.

(6) "Kratom product" means the natural leaf of the plant mitragyna speciosa and any simple physical form of the leaf, including whole, crushed, or powdered. "Kratom product" does not include a product that has been synthetically manipulated or chemically concentrated beyond the leaf’s natural alkaloid profile. a food product, food ingredient, dietary ingredient, dietary supplement, or beverage intended or marketed for human consumption containing any part of the leaf of the plant mitragyna speciosa.

(7) "Grower" means a person or entity which grows kratom for commercial purposes.

(8) "Processor" or "manufacturer" means a person or entity that processes, compounds, or converts plant material from mitragyna speciosa into a kratom product. This also includes further processing, compounding, converting, or repackaging of existing kratom products.

(9) "Retailer" or "seller" means a person or entity that distributes, offers for sale, or sells kratom or kratom products to persons for personal consumption.

§19-12F-6. Age verification requirements.

(a) Any website owned, managed, or operated by a person who manufactures, processes, distributes, offers for sale, or sells a product containing kratom or kratom products to persons in this state, shall employ a neutral age-screening mechanism that verifies that the user is at least 21 years old, including by using an age-gate, age-screen, or other age-verification mechanism approved by the commissioner prove that an individual is 21 years of age or older by requiring an individual to:

(1) Provide digital identification; or

(2) Comply with a commercial or governmental age verification system that verifies age using:

(A) Government-issued identification which may be digital identification; or

(B) A commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data to verify the age of an individual.

(b) Any person or entity distributing, offering to distribute or sell, or selling kratom or kratom products to persons in this state by means other than a direct in-person transaction shall employ an age-verification mechanism approved by the commissioner.

§19-12F-11. Criminal violations; penalties.

(a) Any person who manufactures, processes, distributes, sells, or offers for sale any kratom or kratom product in this state without a permit is guilty of a crime.

(1) A first violation of this subsection is a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, a person shall be fined not more than $1,000, confined in jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined.

(2) A second or subsequent violation of this subsection is a felony and, upon conviction thereof, a person shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than one nor more than five years, or both fined and imprisoned.

(b) Any person who manufactures, processes, distributes, sells, or offers to sell any kratom or kratom product knowing or having reason to know that the product has been contaminated with a toxic or illegal substance is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than two nor more than 10 years, or both fined and imprisoned.

(c)(1) Any person who knowingly manufactures, processes, distributes, sells, or offers for sale any kratom or kratom product which has not been approved by the commissioner is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000, or confined in jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, a second or subsequent violation of subdivision (1) of this subsection constitutes a felony and any person convicted thereof shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned for not less than one nor more than five years, or both fined and imprisoned.

(d) Any person who knowingly manufactures, distributes, offers for sale, or sells contaminated kratom or kratom product is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $10,000 nor more than $25,000, or imprisoned for not less than one nor more than five years, or both fined and imprisoned.

(e) Any person who knowingly distributes or sells kratom or a kratom product to a person under the age of 21 is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than one nor more than five years, or both fined and imprisoned.

(f) (1) Any person under the age of 21 who possesses kratom or a kratom product is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or confined in jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, second and subsequent violations of subdivision (1) of this subsection constitute a felony and any person convicted thereof shall be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than one nor more than three years, or both fined and imprisoned.

(g) Administrative sanctions. —

(1) The commissioner shall impose the following sanctions on any licensee who commits any of the violations provided for in subsection (f) of this section:

(A) For a first offense of any violation described in subsection (f) of this section, suspension of the licensee’s license for a period of 30 days and a fine of $2,000: Provided, That the commissioner shall inspect the licensee’s premises no more than 180 days following the licensee’s license reinstatement;

(B) For a second offense of any violation described in subsection (f) of this section, which need not be the same violation as the first violation, suspension of the licensee’s license for a period of 60 days and a fine of $5,000: Provided, That the commissioner shall inspect the licensee’s premises no more than 90 days following the licensee’s license reinstatement; and

(C) For a third offense of any violation described in subsection (f) of this section, which need not be the same violation as the first or second violation, permanent revocation of the licensee’s license and a fine of $10,000.  

(1) (2) In the case of any person or entity holding a permit issued by the commissioner under this article charged with any criminal violation enumerated in this section, in addition to such criminal penalties and administrative sanctions imposed, the commissioner may impose administrative sanctions including, but not limited to, permanent revocation of any one or more permits held by the violator, revocation of one or more permits held by the violator for a period of time to be determined by the commissioner, suspension of any one or more permits held by the violator for a period of time to be determined by the commissioner, a fine or fines to any one or more permits held by the violator not to exceed $1,000 per each violation as determined by the commissioner, or non-issuance of a permit upon application of a violator. For purposes of this subsection, administrative sanctions may be imposed by the commissioner upon or against any alter ego, agent, representative, or person or entity acting on behalf of, or in the interest of, a violator.

(2) The commissioner may impose the administrative sanctions in subdivision (1) of this subsection upon any person or entity under indictment for any of the criminal violations during, and during the pendency of, a criminal trial therefor.

(3) The commissioner shall notify the Tax Department of any violation enumerated in this section for revocation of the registered business license.

(h) Nothing in this article prohibits an authorized enforcement agent of the Alcohol Beverage Control Administration Commissioner or a person who is at least 18 years of age from purchasing or possessing kratom products when he or she is acting upon the request of, or under the direction and control of any member of a state, federal, or local law-enforcement agency or the Alcohol Beverage Control Administration Commissioner while the agency is conducting an investigation or other activity relating to the criminal or administrative enforcement of this article.

§19-12F-12. Reporting.

The commissioner shall employ a software system to monitor the following items:

(1) Registration of kratom manufacturers, processors, distributors, and retailers;

(2) Registration of kratom products;

(3) Inspections conducted by the Department of Agriculture;

(4) Referrals to prosecutors;

(5) Referrals to the Tax Department for any violation of §19-12F-11 of this code.