Kava bar permit denied by city council.

[verticity]

I guess they mean it's not a crime to consume it. Which is probably true. But this doesn't make it legal to sell it for the purpose of human consumption.

I don't know. I am confused about what the legal status of krat actually is. The FDA has seized shipments because it was being sold as a "nutritional supplement", which it is not, so I guess these people are trying to say they are not selling it as a nutritional supplement. Which is kind of a ridiculous claim. It's not a "nutritional supplement," not a food, and not a "drug", but it is something that can be consumed... what exactly is it then? Are there any other things in this same category?

 

[SelfBiasResistor]

From the FDA site :

"K@ is a botanical that qualifies as a dietary ingredient under section 201(ff)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) [21 U.S.C. 321(ff)(1)]. When marketed as a dietary ingredient, FDA also considers K@ to be a new dietary ingredient under section 413(d) of the Act [21 U.S.C. 350b(d)] because, to the best of the agency's knowledge, there is no information demonstrating that this substance was marketed as a dietary ingredient in the United States before October 15, 1994. ...............
In the absence of a history of use or other evidence of safety establishing that K@ will reasonably be expected to be safe as a dietary ingredient, K@ and K@-containing dietary supplements and bulk dietary ingredients are adulterated under section 402(f)(1)(B) of the Act [21 U.S.C. 342(f)(1)(B)], because they contain a new dietary ingredient for which there is inadequate information to provide reasonable assurance that such ingredient does not present a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury."

To the FDA, it seems to be a lot of things but not really. It's best for everyone just to keep it off the radar but so many of these companies want to make a few extra bucks regardless of the damage they do to the industries involved.

 

[Groggy]

I think it's interesting that the majority of the community seems to be on the same page, what I am more curious about and I really mean this from a neutral point of view. What does @nakamalathome and @Bula Kava House think about this? Does having the kava community against k@, specifically in a kava bar setting mean anything to either of you? Is it about the bottom line and only that? I would really like to understand.

Judd, you had mentioned on a separate thread that and I quote "I'm in a unique position as a successful and profitable kava bar, in which about 80-90% of our sales come from kava. We don't rely on K@, so we can sell it on the side as a mild tea to people that will be helped by it without promoting it" so I suppose given all the controversy, why do you bother selling it?

We can discuss this topic on and on but to me the real question is what do the people or kava vendors who own kava bars and sell this plant think? I believe if there is any progress to be made we need to hear from these individuals.