Gov. Mike DeWine is pausing his call for a ban on kratom after a conversation with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But DeWine's office said he still wants to see kratom banned—both the botanical herb and synthetic versions of it.

Though it hasn’t been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, kratom is legal, virtually unregulated and marketed as a painkiller and a treatment for opioid addiction, anxiety, depression and other disorders. It's sold in various forms in corner stores and gas stations across the state and country—often in places that also sell delta-8, which DeWine has called on lawmakers to regulate as well.

Last Tuesday DeWine had ordered the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to categorize kratom as an illegal drug.

“These modified kratom products, so

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