Kratom Researcher Failed to Disclose Ties to Industry Lobby, ProPublica Finds

Why it matters

Policymakers deciding whether to ban or regulate kratom have relied on testimony from a scientist whose travel and funding ties to the industry's main lobbying group went undisclosed, raising questions about the objectivity of key evidence shaping state and federal decisions.

The big picture

As kratom derivatives tied to overdoses and deaths have proliferated, the American Kratom Association has spent millions lobbying statehouses and Congress to keep the plant legal, frequently deploying University of Florida professor Christopher McCurdy as an expert witness. Federal grants exceeding $100 million support his pharmaceutical research into kratom's dominant alkaloid, funding that could be jeopardized if the substance is scheduled.

Key findings

• McCurdy has accepted travel reimbursements, university foundation donations, and symposium funding from the American Kratom Association without listing them in required conflict-of-interest disclosures or on his published papers.
• The CDC attributes roughly 5,200 U.S. overdose deaths involving kratom between 2020 and 2024, and poison control calls tied to kratom have risen 1,200% over the past decade.
• McCurdy's own published research has documented severe newborn withdrawal, dependency, and death linked to kratom, findings he rarely raises when advising lawmakers.
• His advocacy helped defeat a proposed 2016 DEA Schedule I classification and later helped overturn state bans, including in Rhode Island in 2025.
• The DEA cited McCurdy's research when it moved to schedule kratom derivatives MGPI, MGM-15, and MGM-16 in August 2026, while exempting whole-leaf botanical kratom.

What they say

"My views on kratom are based on more than two decades of scientific research. They are my own and are not dictated by the American Kratom Association or any other outside organization," McCurdy told ProPublica.

Bottom line

**A scientist's undisclosed industry funding has been shaping the "neutral" science behind kratom policy debates in statehouses and Washington.**