Advocacy Update

Oct. 24, 2025: State Advocacy Update

| 1 Min Read

New issue brief provides kratom and tianeptine basics, AMA recommendations

A new issue brief (PDF) from the AMA Advocacy Resource Center provides key information about kratom and tianeptine—two unregulated substances that have generated increasing reports of public health harms. The issue brief includes basic information about the substances, including the fact that neither has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Haven't subscribed?

Stay current on the latest on the issues impacting physicians, patients and the health care environment with the AMA’s Advocacy Update newsletter.

The AMA recommends the safety and efficacy of kratom should be determined through research and clinical trials and subsequently evaluated by the relevant regulatory entities for its appropriateness for sale and potential oversight via the Controlled Substances Act, before it can be marketed, purchased or prescribed. The AMA also advocates to ban the sale of tianeptine directly to the public in the absence of research into the safety and efficacy of the substance. 

Your Powerful Ally

The AMA is your powerful ally, focused on addressing the issues important to you, so you can focus on what matters most—patients. We will meet this challenge together.

FEATURED STORIES

Speech balloons

Physicians must tell their own story—for patients’ sake

| 3 Min Read
Profiles positioned as data points across a map of the U.S.

What tops the state advocacy agenda for doctors in 2026

| 7 Min Read
Supportive group holding hands

Time for decisive action on substance-use disorder treatment

| 5 Min Read
Sitting health care worker in a busy hallway

1 in 3 NPs and PAs switch specialties at least once in career

| 6 Min Read