Ban Kratom
In July 2026 the DEA banned half of the kratom molecule. The plant that makes the other half is still sold next to the energy drinks. FDPS is fighting for a kratom ban with one federal standard: the whole leaf.
The DEA announced emergency Schedule I status for 7-OH on July 1, 2026, but the order never took effect, and in October the Justice Department reissued it with looser limits. Mitragynine, the leaf compound the body turns into 7-OH, has no federal standard at all.
- August 2016The DEA announces it will place kratom’s compounds in Schedule I as an “imminent hazard.”
- October 2016After an industry pressure campaign, the DEA withdraws the notice.
- July 2025The FDA recommends Schedule I for concentrated 7-OH only.
- July 1, 2026The DEA announces it will temporarily schedule 7-OH and three synthetic compounds. Not the plant. FDPS files comments.
- October 2026After a lobbying push, the Justice Department reissues the 7-OH order with looser limits and lets MGPI stay in leaf products. The whole-leaf fight is the fight.
Kratom is an opioid sold as a supplement. Its two active compounds, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), bind to the same receptors as heroin and oxycodone. The Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions is leading the campaign for a federal kratom ban that covers the whole plant, not just its strongest extract.
One plant, two rules
The DEA’s July 2026 order was a real step, and FDPS supported it. It was also exactly the outcome the kratom lobby wanted.
7-OH and three synthetic compounds
The DEA’s order covers 7-hydroxymitragynine, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI), MGM-15 and MGM-16: the concentrated tablets and shots that the industry itself called the “real” problem. The three synthetics were scheduled in August. The 7-OH order never took effect; in October the Justice Department withdrew it and reissued it with a limit twice as high, and gave MGPI the same allowance in “natural” products.
Mitragynine: the leaf itself
Leaf powders, capsules, extracts and drinks, most of the market, are sold in most states with no age limit, no dose standard and no federal rule. Every one of them delivers 7-OH once the liver does its work.
The American Kratom Association spent years arguing that concentrated 7-OH was the problem precisely so that the plant would be left alone. The body does not respect that line. A “natural leaf” product is a 7-OH delivery system with a slower fuse. That is why FDPS, in its formal comments to the DEA and HHS and in the bipartisan Senate letter it helped draft, asked regulators to schedule the whole kratom leaf.
How the lobby won the October retreat
On October 28, 2026, The New York Times reported how the administration came to loosen its own order. The push to allow MGPI in leaf products was led by David Gabbay, who manages a large distributor tied to the OPMS kratom brand and whose products, according to lab tests cited by lawyers for grieving families, contained MGPI in cases where users died in Tennessee, Washington and Texas. Gabbay and his wife have given about $2.9 million to Republican candidates and committees this year, including nearly $160,000 to the Republican National Committee on the day the Justice Department scheduled MGPI. The next day the American Kratom Association, which companies tied to Gabbay help fund, sued the DEA to allow some MGPI, and its leader told the Times he made his case at the White House.
The science HHS cited does not support the line it drew. Amar Chittiboyina, the University of Mississippi chemist whose study HHS relied on, measured about 2 parts per million of MGPI in leaf products and told the Times the new limit runs as much as 500 times higher and is “too permissive.” The DEA’s own notice admits that “neither HHS nor DEA has made a finding that these substances are safe to use at below-threshold levels.” DEA data cited by the Times show MGPI in at least 56 overdose cases from February 2025 to May 2026, 48 of them fatal, and both University of Mississippi students who died in September had MGPI in their blood. HHS and the White House told the Times that science, not donations or litigation, drove the decision. The Drug Report has the full account.
Why the kratom ban has to cover the leaf
Ten years after the DEA first called kratom an imminent hazard, the numbers are in.
Overdose deaths involving kratom recorded by the CDC from 2020 through 2024. In many, kratom was one of several drugs. In others it was the only one.
Increase in kratom exposure reports to U.S. poison centers, from 258 in 2015 to 3,434 in 2025. Reported effects include seizures, liver injury and respiratory depression.
How much more potent than morphine 7-OH can be. Mitragynine, the “natural” compound, becomes 7-OH inside the body.
States that ban kratom outright, from Alabama to Wisconsin, with Connecticut, Kansas and Tennessee joining in 2026 and Massachusetts acting by emergency order in August. Without a federal standard, a 16-year-old’s access to an opioid depends on a state line.
The agency also should not allow the public to think that mitragynine, the other psychoactive constituent of kratom, is benign. Cocaine isn’t safe because crack is more dangerous.
Dr. Kevin A. Sabet, President and CEO, FDPS, August 2025
How the kratom lobby stalled a ban for ten years
- August 2016The DEA files notice of intent to place mitragynine and 7-OH in Schedule I as an “imminent hazard to public safety.”
- October 2016After an industry-organized pressure campaign, the DEA withdraws the notice. Thousands of overdose deaths follow.
- 2018The FDA publishes its own analysis: kratom’s compounds are opioids, and the public should not use it.
- July 2025The FDA recommends Schedule I for 7-OH only. FDPS applauds the step and asks the agency not to let the public believe mitragynine is benign.
- March 2026Eleven senators, led by Sens. Pete Ricketts and Richard Blumenthal, ask the FDA to schedule both 7-OH and the whole kratom leaf. FDPS helped draft the letter. Read it (PDF)
- May 2026The White House floats approving “natural 7-OH.”
- July 1, 2026The DEA announces it will temporarily schedule 7-OH and three synthetic kratom compounds. FDPS files formal comments urging Schedule I for 7-OH, tianeptine and the whole kratom leaf. FDPS statement
- August 2026Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey takes emergency action to restrict kratom products statewide. FDPS statement
- September 2026Two University of Mississippi students die; packaged kratom is found in both investigations, and toxicology later cited in a federal court filing shows MGPI in both students’ blood, and a final cause of death has not been released. FDPS urges families to understand the risks and Congress to act. FDPS statement
- October 10, 2026The Justice Department withdraws the July 7-OH notice and reissues it with a threshold twice as high, plus a new allowance for MGPI in “natural” products. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley calls it “the WRONG move.”
- October 28, 2026The New York Times reports that the retreat followed a lobbying push led by a kratom distributor facing wrongful death suits, whose family gave about $2.9 million to Republican committees this year, and that the chemist HHS relied on calls the new limit “too permissive.” The Drug Report
What FDPS is asking Congress and the agencies to do
Schedule the whole kratom leaf
Mitragynine and 7-OH in Schedule I until the science says otherwise, as the DEA proposed in 2016 and as eleven senators asked in 2026. Not half a molecule.
Finish the 7-OH order, without the loophole
Nearly four months after the DEA announced it, 7-OH is still uncontrolled, and the reissued order lets MGPI, a compound the DEA says is about 100 times as potent as mitragynine, stay in “natural” products. Restore the July limits, finalize the order and enforce it.
End the “natural” marketing
Opium is natural. Cocaine is natural. The FTC and state consumer protection offices should treat health claims for an unapproved opioid the way they would for any other drug.
Fund research and treatment
Kratom use disorder is real and growing. Clinicians need guidance on withdrawal and overdose, and people who are dependent need a way out, not a criminal record.
Ready to help? Add your name to the Ban Kratom Now campaign, then write your representatives. Every name and every letter makes the kratom ban harder to stall again.
State kratom bans: a patchwork, not a policy
Without a federal standard, whether a teenager can buy an opioid at a gas station depends on which side of a state line the gas station sits. The list of states that ban kratom outright grows every session, while the industry pushes “Kratom Consumer Protection Acts” that cement its place on the shelf.
Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts (emergency order), North Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin.
7-OH only
California, Colorado, Florida, Virginia. Leaf products stay legal.
Kratom ban: frequently asked questions
Is kratom legal?
Under federal law the kratom leaf and its main compound, mitragynine, are not controlled, so leaf products are legal to sell in most states. The DEA announced emergency Schedule I status for concentrated 7-OH products on July 1, 2026, but the order has not taken effect and was loosened in October 2026. About a dozen states ban kratom entirely, and four more ban only 7-OH.
Isn’t kratom natural?
So are opium and cocaine. Kratom’s compounds act on the same receptors as heroin and oxycodone, and the leaf converts to 7-OH inside the body. “Natural” says nothing about safety.
Didn’t the DEA already ban kratom?
No. The July 2026 order covered only 7-OH and three synthetic compounds, and the 7-OH part has not taken effect; in October 2026 it was reissued with looser limits after a lobbying push. The leaf products that make up most of the market are untouched. FDPS is asking for the whole plant to be scheduled, as the DEA itself proposed in 2016.
Which states have banned kratom?
As of September 2026, Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts (by emergency order), North Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin ban kratom outright. California, Colorado, Florida and Virginia ban only 7-OH products, so leaf products stay legal there. The FDPS kratom briefing keeps the state-by-state map current.
Does FDPS want kratom users arrested?
No. Scheduling is aimed at the companies that manufacture and sell kratom as a supplement. People who have become dependent need treatment, and FDPS is asking Congress to fund it.
What about the “Kratom Consumer Protection Acts” states have passed?
They are industry-drafted laws that set age limits and labeling rules while keeping the product legal. In practice they cement kratom’s place on the shelf. That is why the kratom lobby supports them.
What should I do if someone overdoses on kratom?
Call 911. If the person is unresponsive or breathing slowly, naloxone may help and cannot hurt. Kratom is most dangerous when combined with alcohol, benzodiazepines or other drugs.
Tell President Trump: finish the job. Ban the whole plant.
The DEA promised to ban 7-OH, then loosened the order under industry pressure. Ask the administration and Congress to finish the job and schedule the kratom leaf too, before the next family finds out what “natural” means.
