President Trump:Ban Kratom.
Kratom is an opioid-like drug sold at gas stations next to the candy. Young people are being hospitalized, hooked, and killed. Washington banned part of it this summer. Finish the job and ban the whole plant.
Paid for by the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, in partnership with Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
“Natural” is not a safety argument.
Kratom is a drug, not a supplement. Its main compounds act on the same opioid receptors that control your breathing. That is why it produces opioid-like effects, why regular users develop dependence, and why people go through withdrawal when they stop.
It is sold like candy. Gummies, shots, powders and “energy” drinks in gas stations, smoke shops and convenience stores, in flavors built for young people, with no consistent dose on the label and no one checking what is inside.
The danger is the whole plant, not just one extract. Mitragynine, the main compound in the kratom leaf, is converted by the body into 7-OH. Banning concentrated 7-OH while leaving “natural” kratom on the shelf leaves the addictive drug on the shelf.
The harms are documented. Kratom has been associated with seizures, liver injury, respiratory depression and overdose deaths, especially when it is mixed with alcohol, benzodiazepines or other drugs.
Opium is a plant product. Cocaine is a plant product. The kratom lobby’s favorite word is “natural.” It is not a safety argument, and it never was.
Read the full FDPS kratom briefing: what it is, what it does, and where every state stands →
“These are opioids. They are sold next to the candy aisle, in flavors built for kids, to people who have no idea what they’re taking. We have watched this movie before. In 2016, a lobbying campaign, not a scientific finding, stopped the federal government from acting on kratom. Thousands of Americans have died in the years since. Regulators should follow the science this time, and they should not stop at half a molecule.”
Dr. Kevin A. Sabet, President and CEO, FDPS, in FDPS’s formal comment to DEA and HHSWhat happened in Mississippi. Two University of Mississippi students were found dead this week, and law enforcement said packaged kratom from a retail store was found in both investigations. The cause of the deaths has not been determined, and no one should get ahead of the facts. What is already established is everything above. NBC News · The New York Times
Halfway there is not there.
The federal government has already said kratom’s most potent compound belongs in Schedule I. The plant it comes from is still legal in most of the country. One order from the President would end that.
Tell President Trump: finish the job- 2016
DEA moves to schedule kratom. The lobby stops it.
The DEA announced its intent to place kratom’s active compounds in Schedule I, then withdrew after an industry pressure campaign. Thousands of overdose deaths have followed.
- March 2026
Senators call for scheduling the whole leaf.
A bipartisan letter led by Sens. Pete Ricketts and Richard Blumenthal, joined by nine colleagues, urged the FDA to schedule both 7-OH and the whole kratom leaf. FDPS helped draft it.
- May 2026
The White House waffles.
President Trump: “We’re looking very seriously at natural 7-OH and getting that approved.” STAT News
- July 1, 2026
DEA bans 7-OH. Leaves the plant on the shelf.
DEA temporarily placed 7-OH and three synthetic kratom compounds in Schedule I. Mitragynine, the kratom leaf itself, stayed legal. DEA · FDPS comment: ban the whole plant
- September 2026
Two students dead. Fox News: “This has got to be banned.”
Laura Ingraham called for a nationwide ban and said the administration “has kind of waffled here.” The Drug Report
Tell President Trump: Ban kratom. All of it.
Add your name to FDPS’s call on the White House, the DEA and the FDA for a nationwide ban on the entire kratom plant. We will keep you posted as the fight moves, and tell you when your voice is needed again.
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The country is waking up to this.
Ban gas station heroin: Three headlines, one deadly drug
Dr. Kevin Sabet on why kratom is sold too casually for a drug with this addiction and death toll.
Laura Ingraham calls for a kratom ban, knocks Trump admin for waffling
Dr. Drew Pinsky: kratom has “the same addictive potential as Vicodin.”
Kratom found in investigations into deaths of two Ole Miss students
Coverage of the developing story in Oxford, Mississippi.
FDPS urges federal action against gas station heroin drugs
Our formal comments to HHS and DEA calling for Schedule I, and for a ban on the whole kratom plant.
Check our work.
- Overdose deathsCDC, State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS) dashboard: kratom involved in at least 5,208 overdose deaths, 2020 to 2024
- Poison center reportsCDC MMWR, National Poison Data System: 258 kratom exposure reports in 2015 to 3,434 in 2025
- DEA action on 7-OHDEA press release, July 1, 2026: temporary Schedule I placement of 7-OH and related substances
- HHS and FDAHHS and FDA statement supporting DEA scheduling of 7-OH
- FDPS formal commentFDPS comment to DEA and HHS on 7-hydroxymitragynine scheduling (PDF)
- Correcting the recordFDPS: Correcting the record on kratom, 7-OH and mitragynine
- Senate letterRicketts and Blumenthal letter to FDA urging scheduling of the whole kratom leaf and 7-OH (via FDPS)
- White House commentsSTAT News: Trump pivots on kratom derivative 7-OH, floating approval for some forms
- Op-edKevin Sabet, Washington Examiner: Ban gas station heroin
- MississippiNBC News · The New York Times
- ReportingThe Drug Report: Laura Ingraham calls for a kratom ban · DEA temporarily schedules synthetic kratom compound
- Kratom basicsFDPS kratom one-pager (PDF)
Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions
FDPS is a national drug policy think and action tank. Our vision is a world in which children and families thrive, substance use is prevented, and there is rapid access to quality treatment. We have warned about kratom for years: we filed formal comments urging Schedule I for 7-OH and a ban on the whole plant, helped draft the bipartisan Senate letter calling for the same, and applauded states like Massachusetts that acted on their own.
Dr. Kevin A. Sabet is President and CEO of FDPS and of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a three-time White House drug policy advisor who served in the Obama, Bush and Clinton administrations, a Fellow at Yale’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies, and the author of One Nation Under the Influence. He is available for television, radio, podcast and print interviews on kratom, 7-OH and the federal response.
Press and interview requests
Matt Connelly
Vice President of Communications
matt@learnaboutsam.org
Broadcast-quality clips of Dr. Sabet’s recent Fox News and NewsNation appearances, the campaign ad, and b-roll are available on request.
Students are dying.
Ban kratom now.
The science is settled. The Senate has asked. The DEA has acted on half the problem. One decision from the President ends the other half.
Paid for by the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. BanKratomNow.com
