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Amid a debate about the safety of kratom and how much to regulate it, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr advised lawmakers on Friday to treat all products derived from the substance as illegal unless proven safe.

“I say you ban all kratom-related products from the beginning,” said Carr, who leaves office in January when his term ends.

Georgia lawmakers have already regulated kratom. The law, which is punishable by fines, prohibits sales to people under 21 and requires that products be kept behind the counter or otherwise secured.

But Carr said enforcement has proven difficult due to the proliferation of products at convenience stores, gas stations and other locations, often with unclear or inaccurate labeling.

Officers must have a product lab tested before they can pull it from shelves, which has stymied enforcement.

A kratom product should be legal for sale only if the manufacturer has submitted lab testing in advance that shows it is safe, Carr told members of a state House study committee that has been hearing testimony about kratom since the spring.

He advised establishing a registry of approved products that law enforcement could consult while checking stores.

“Anything not on that list would be treated as contraband subject to seizure by any law enforcement agency anywhere in the state of Georgia,” he said at the hearing at the Georgia Capitol. “There’d be no lab work required and no need to prove what’s inside that package because if it’s not on the list, it comes off the shelf.”

Kratom comes from the leaves of a tree that is native to Southeast Asia. People there have chewed those leaves for centuries as both a stimulant and a substitute for opium, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says users take it for opioid-like effects at higher doses.

Manufacturers have learned how to extract and concentrate the active ingredients, creating more potent products.

In high enough concentrations, those ingredients can be dangerous, with side effects including high blood pressure, liver damage and seizures, according to a Mayo Clinic article last week.

Kratom affects the nervous system and can also cause confusion, delusion, depression, tremors and trouble breathing, the article reported. Kratom has been linked with a relatively small number of deaths, nearly all of which involved other drugs or potentially harmful substances, the article said.

Publications in Georgia have reported on the danger. The Current, an online news outlet, reported in August about the death of Andrew Wood, a young man who purchased a kratom product at a vape shop in Brunswick. His family said he had been consuming it for months and thought it was safe.

Effingham County subsequently banned kratom, according to The Brunswick News.

Even if Georgia cracked down on kratom sales as Carr recommended, people could still buy the products online. Kratom is not a federally controlled substance.

At prior meetings, the study committee heard from kratom users who praised the substance. On Friday, a Marietta man said “natural” kratom helped him escape addiction to pharmaceutical opioids.

Rep. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, who serves on the study committee, said reducing availability would make people less likely to buy kratom without knowing the risks. Ample signage at gas stations and other locations is “implicit messaging” that kratom is safe, she said.

Carr made a similar argument.

“Consumers cannot tell the difference between a lawfully registered, regulated product or something that can stop your breathing. And the same is probably true with the shop owners,” he said. “But many buyers reasonably assume that if a store sells it, then somebody had to have approved it. And in Georgia today, that assumption is fatal.”