Those that are interested in Kratom have probably seen the acronym AKA before, but they might not realize what it represents. We reference the AKA – the American Kratom Association – frequently, but what is this organization!
As a member of the Kratom community, learning more about the American Kratom Association and everything that they are doing can help you to better understand the world of Kratom, the battle to achieve complete legality, and more. AKA can help you understand all of that, and that’s just the beginning of what they do.
Let’s take a closer look at AKA’s mission as well as their initiatives to ensure safety, education, and advocacy for all Kratom lovers.
What Is The American Kratom Association?
First things first. Let’s review the basic facts about the American Kratom Association, also known as AKA.
AKA was established in 2014 with the goal of ensuring that people can use this natural botanical in America without the threat of legal action being taken against them. They seek to ensure consumer protections from both poor manufacturing process and unreasonable legal decisions.
In its essence, AKA wants you to be able to use Kratom for your well-being safely and confidently. But how and why do they do that?
They believe that Kratom can play a beneficial role in the lives of many consumers, and they want to help protect people’s right to choose this botanical product. AKA works to preserve this liberty in many areas; today, we’ll focus on three:
- • Safety
- • Education
- • Advocacy
When you want to learn about the most recent news and pertinent information in the world of Kratom, the fastest way to do that is to visit the Updates section on AKA’s website. This page details their current and ongoing work in safety, education, and advocacy while also updating Kratom lovers with other important information in a timely manner.
Safety: GMP Compliance Program
AKA has released their own quality standards program based on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for Kratom vendors. They developed this AKA GMP Standards Program in an attempt to improve the credibility and safety of Kratom products that are being sold within the USA.
Inconsistent manufacturing processes and little-to-no testing requirements have allowed contaminated Kratom products to be released to the public in the past, and these contaminations only contribute Kratom being viewed as a dangerous substance.
If subpar products are allowed to represent the Kratom industry, a ban will become more and more likely. In the interest of protecting consumers from contamination and ensuring the continued legality of high quality Kratom, AKA created this program.
In order to become an AKA GMP-qualified vendor, manufacturers must follow a specific set of manufacturing guidelines and pass an official audit. (You can see results from our third-party audit here.)
We’re very proud to say that we were the first-ever Kratom vendor approved to be an AKA GMP qualified Kratom vendor. We hope that every other Kratom vendor will join in the mission to organize and protect the Kratom community through safe practices.
With AKA’s help, we believe that the community can thrive in this way.
Education: Preventing the Ban
For many years, Kratom consumers have feared that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will force the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to send out a baseless, outright ban on Kratom. Due to misinformation and misconceptions about Kratom and how it is used, there are many people who believe it to be a drug.
This is false, and AKA is driven to clear up misinformation. Through AKA’s website, outreach, and other informational material, they are constantly working to clarify what Kratom really is. They particularly focus on the latest scientific findings about Kratom, and how those findings might impact the industry.
Additionally, AKA believes that it is important that those with a curiosity for Kratom have true and factual information to digest before they decide whether or not Kratom is a good choice for them. So, they continue to release educational materials to customers, vendors, suppliers, lawmakers, and government agencies such as the FDA.
To learn more about Kratom, check out the Science section on the American Kratom Association’s website. If you prefer to learn from other members of the community directly as well, you can consider joining the forum community on AKA’s website as well.
Advocacy & Outreach
Finally, we’ve mentioned a few times that AKA wants to ensure consumer protections for those who are interested in Kratom. In addition to protecting consumers from untested Kratom products, this also means that the American Kratom Association is interested in protecting the legal status of Kratom.
At this time, Kratom is in what some like to call a grey area. While it is in no way illegal to use, it is not regulated, acknowledged, or classified by the FDA. This means that they could, if prompted, ban Kratom at any time. Of course, they would have to have a solid reason for this, but many in the community fear that this will happen.
AKA has continuously worked to advocate for the safe and legal use of Kratom. In addition to helping pass consumer protection laws in Utah and Georgia, AKA is working with vendors and lawmakers in several more states to push the Kratom Consumer Protection Act. They are also working to ensure that Kratom remains legal for export in Indonesia. If banned, this would cut a major supply chain to Kratom vendors and customers in the USA.
Support AKA; They Support You!
AKA currently estimates as many as 15 million Americans that use Kratom safely for their well-being each year. AKA represents the interests of each and every one of these consumers, even if they don’t know that AKA exists!
The resources, support, education, and advocacy that the American Kratom Association provides to the community are making it stronger and safer each year. For that reason, we should all be thankful that AKA does the work that they do.
As a high-quality Kratom vendor, we pride ourselves on being able to support and represent the values that AKA has proven to be so important in our ever-changing industry.
Regardless of where you decide to buy your Kratom from, we hope that you urge your favorite vendors to get involved with this amazing organization and their efforts to keep our industry alive.