Archive
Everything we have published
Every one of the 59 articles we have published, newest first, with the date each went up.
2026
News
No UN drug schedule lists kratom. The WHO's only review, in 2021, stopped at the first step
In 2021 the WHO looked at kratom and its two main alkaloids and recommended surveillance, not control. That was a finding about thin evidence, not a finding that kratom is safe or legal.
Science
Kratom can injure the liver. The case reports cannot tell you how often
Case reports and a US liver-injury registry show that kratom has caused liver injury in some people. No study we found measures how often it happens, or who is at risk.
Legal status
Kratom in Indiana: both alkaloids are Schedule I, by way of the state's definition of a synthetic drug
Indiana lists mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine as synthetic drugs, and Schedule I takes in that whole definition. Possessing any amount is a crime; delivering it is a felony.
Banned
Guides
"Not for human consumption": what the label on a kratom packet means, and what it does not
The words are there to keep a product outside food law. Whether they succeed is for a regulator to decide, and they tell you nothing about whether the contents are safe to swallow.
News
Czechia built a legal category to regulate kratom instead of banning it. Its government now wants to tighten it
Czech law made a licensed category between food and controlled drug, and kratom is the only plant on it. A bill approved on 14 September 2026 would raise the age to 21 and end online sale.
Legal status
Kratom in Arkansas: both alkaloids are Schedule I, and the state lists them as opium derivatives
Arkansas added mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine to Schedule I in November 2015, in the subsection reserved for opium derivatives. Possessing any amount is a felony.
Banned
Science
Kratom in mortality data: "involved" versus "caused", and what the coroner reports show
US overdose data counted 1,221 deaths involving mitragynine in the year to December 2025. "Involved" means the word appeared on the death certificate. That is not the same as caused.
Guides
Leaf, extract, enhanced, 7-OH: what the product words actually mean
Few words on a kratom package carry a legal definition. "Extract" is the exception, and the laws defining it disagree. One product labelled "kratom extract" held more 7-OH than its label claimed.
News
Ten years of US attempts to schedule kratom, and what each one actually did
The United States has never placed kratom leaf or mitragynine under federal control. It has issued one withdrawn notice, one order covering three laboratory compounds, and one proposal still open.
Legal status
Kratom in Florida: the statute does almost nothing, and the regulators did the rest
Florida's Kratom Consumer Protection Act sets an age limit and nothing else. A food rule, a labelling rule and an Attorney General emergency rule putting 7-OH in Schedule I do the actual work.
Legal, regulated
Legal status
Kratom in Maryland: a consumer protection act with a clause nobody has reconciled
Maryland regulates kratom under the Health-General article: over-21s, a 2% cap on 7-OH, mandatory labels and detailed advertising rules. One clause bars selling anything the FDA has not recognised.
Legal to hold, sale restricted
Legal status
Kratom in Oklahoma: a Kratom Consumer Protection Act with a very long label
Oklahoma has had a Kratom Consumer Protection Act since November 2021. It sets an age limit of 18, caps 7-OH at 1% of total kratom alkaloids, and requires eight things on the label.
Legal, regulated
Legal status
Kratom in Oregon: no kratom-specific label rule, and a real batch testing duty
Oregon bars sale to under-21s and makes kratom processors register with the Department of Revenue. The Act sets no potency cap and no kratom label rule. The batch testing duty is in the rules.
Legal, regulated
Legal status
Kratom in Utah: a licensed market for pure leaf, and Schedule I for everything else
Utah renamed its Kratom Consumer Protection Act the Kratom Regulation Act in 2026 and put 7-hydroxymitragynine in Schedule I. Only registered sellers may sell pure leaf kratom, only to over-21s.
Legal, regulated
Science
Kratom and driving: one state convicts on a detectable trace, and the evidence is ten drivers
Wisconsin has a zero-tolerance drugged-driving offence reaching mitragynine. England and Wales can only prosecute impairment. The research on whether kratom impairs driving is one pilot study.
News
The 7-OH fight is an argument about a number, and the number has not been set
US federal action on 7-hydroxymitragynine turns entirely on a concentration threshold of 0.050 percent. The molecule is identical in a leaf and in a tablet. What differs is the dose and the matrix.
News
Six states have a Kratom Consumer Protection Act, and no two of them are the same law
The model act is a name, not a text. Statutes carrying it range from a single age limit to a labelling and advertising code, and the strictest state law in the country dropped the name in May 2026.
News
DEA places three kratom-derived opioids in Schedule I, the first ever federally controlled
A temporary order took effect on 26 August 2026 scheduling mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16. Kratom, mitragynine and 7-OH itself remain uncontrolled, and the 7-OH proposal has not moved.
News
Massachusetts places all forms of kratom in Schedule I by emergency regulation
The state health commissioner scheduled the whole plant for one year, with no threshold and no exception for leaf. It took effect on 28 August 2026 and reaches further than federal law still does.
Legal status
Kratom in Alabama: both alkaloids sit in Schedule I, and the state is enforcing it
Alabama put mitragynine and hydroxymitragynine in Schedule I in 2016. Possessing or selling a product containing them is an offence, and in March 2026 the Attorney General told retailers to stop.
Banned
News
DEA puts O-desmethyltramadol in Schedule I, an adulterant found in kratom products
A temporary DEA order took effect on 12 August 2026 scheduling O-desmethyltramadol, the synthetic opioid found mixed into kratom in the Krypton deaths. Kratom itself was not scheduled.
Guides
How to read a heavy metal test, and what it means at your intake
A lab report gives you a concentration. What reaches you is a daily dose, and the arithmetic between the two turns entirely on how many grams you take.
Legal status
Kratom in Austria: absent from both drug lists, still barred as a food
Kratom appears in neither the Austrian narcotics regulation nor the named list under the new psychoactive substances regime. EU novel food law still makes selling it for consumption unlawful.
Legal to hold, sale restricted
Legal status
Kratom in Denmark: controlled since 2009, and the plant and both alkaloids are listed
Denmark placed kratom, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine on list B of its euphoriant substances order in March 2009. They may lawfully be used only for medical and scientific purposes.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Estonia: a List I narcotic, and handling it is prohibited outside four narrow purposes
Estonia names the plant and both alkaloids in List I of its narcotics schedules. Handling them is prohibited outside medicine, science, law enforcement and teaching.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Finland: banned from the consumer market since 2016, but not a narcotic
Finland prohibits manufacturing, importing, storing, offering for sale and supplying kratom. Possession and personal use are absent from that list, and kratom is not on the narcotics schedule.
Legal to hold, supply banned
Legal status
Kratom in Hungary: on none of the three lists, and still not a lawful food
Hungary keeps its narcotic, psychotropic and new psychoactive substance lists in one decree. Kratom is in none of them. EU novel food law still bars selling it for human consumption.
Legal to hold, sale restricted
Legal status
Kratom in Iceland: on the prohibited column, alongside khat
Iceland lists kratom, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine in Annex I of its narcotics regulation, marked in the column that makes import, sale, production and possession unlawful.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Ireland: a Schedule 1 controlled drug, and possessing it is unlawful
Ireland schedules mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, with wording reaching any plant material containing any proportion of them. Possession is an offence under the 1977 Act, not only supply.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Italy: a Table I narcotic, but personal possession is not a crime
Italy listed both the plant and mitragynine as Table I narcotics in August 2016. Supplying kratom carries a prison sentence. Holding a small amount for personal use is an administrative matter.
Banned, possession decriminalised
Legal status
Kratom in Latvia: on the prohibited list, with a one gram line drawn through it
Latvia puts kratom and both alkaloids on List I, its strictest schedule, and sets exact quantity thresholds. One gram of dried leaf is the line above which an amount stops counting as small.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Lithuania: the plant is on List I, the alkaloid on List II
Lithuania controls the kratom plant and its parts, and their extract, as substances prohibited for medical use, and mitragynine separately as one permitted for medical use.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Norway: prohibited outright, and the prohibition covers use
Norway lists kratom and both alkaloids in its narcotics list, each flagged as prohibited under section 5. That provision bans possession and use as well as import, sale and manufacture.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Portugal: not a narcotic, but selling it is a very serious economic offence
Portugal never put kratom in its drug tables. It sits on the list of new psychoactive substances, where producing, importing or selling it is prohibited and punished as an economic offence.
Banned, possession decriminalised
Legal status
Kratom in Romania: a controlled drug, and possessing it for your own use is a crime
Romania lists the plant and both alkaloids in Table III of its drug law. That is the lower of two tiers, but possession for your own use is still an offence carrying prison or a fine.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Slovakia: a listed psychotropic substance, named in the schedule
Slovakia lists kratom by name in group I of the schedule annexed to its narcotics Act. Older copies of that Act circulate without the amendment, which is why the listing is often missed.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Spain: not a controlled drug, and not a lawful food either
Kratom is absent from the Spanish psychotropics annex, so it is not a controlled drug. EU novel food law still makes selling it for human consumption unlawful, which is the bar that actually bites.
Legal to hold, sale restricted
Legal status
Kratom in Switzerland: the plant is not listed, and a court convicted a seller anyway
Switzerland schedules mitragynine but never names the kratom plant. A Zurich appeal court held that kratom containing mitragynine is a narcotic, and convicted a webshop owner who sold it.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Turkey: controlled since 2014, in a scanned annex nobody can search
Turkey brought the kratom plant and three of its alkaloids under its narcotics law in January 2014. The list is a scanned image, which is why the listing is hard to find and often missed.
Banned
Guides
Mixing kratom with other drugs: what is actually known
Kratom is almost always found alongside other substances in overdose deaths. That single fact is misread in both directions, and the research that would settle it barely exists.
Guides
What testing has found in kratom products, and what nobody has checked
No one routinely tests kratom products. When regulators and academics have sampled them, they found salmonella, heavy metals, unpredictable potency and, in one case, added opioids.
Guides
Travelling with kratom: what changes at a border, and what does not
Kratom is under no international drug control, so every country decides alone. Schengen removes the checkpoint rather than the law, and no medical exemption exists for kratom.
Legal status
Kratom in Canada: not a controlled substance, but illegal to sell for human consumption
Kratom is not a controlled drug in Canada, so possession is legal. But Health Canada has authorized no kratom product, and selling an unauthorized health product is illegal. There is no lawful market.
Legal to hold, sale restricted
Legal status
Kratom in the Czech Republic: legal but regulated as a psychomodulatory substance
The Czech Republic did not ban kratom. Since 2025 it is a regulated psychomodulatory substance, legal for adults to buy in specialised shops under limits on potency and packaging.
Legal, regulated
Legal status
Kratom in Indonesia: not a narcotic, and regulated for export rather than banned
Indonesia grows most of the world's kratom. Its health ministry says the plant is not a narcotic, and rather than ban it the government is building a regulated export trade with quality standards.
Legal to hold, sale restricted
Legal status
Kratom in Malaysia: banned under the Poisons Act, and its export is prohibited too
In Malaysia, ketum is controlled under the Poisons Act 1952, not the drugs law. Importing, exporting, selling, possessing and using it are offences. Whether to regulate it instead is still debated.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Poland: a controlled narcotic drug, illegal to possess, sell or import
In Poland, kratom is a scheduled narcotic drug (group I-N), not a legal high. Possessing it can carry up to three years in prison, and importing or selling it are separate criminal offences.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Sweden: a narcotic since 11 March 2025, and using it is an offence
Sweden closed a long-standing gap on 11 March 2025, when the plant Mitragyna speciosa itself became a narcotic. Possessing, selling, importing and even using kratom are now criminal offences.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Thailand: banned for nearly 80 years, then legalised and regulated
Thailand outlawed kratom in 1943 and then reversed course. It took the plant off the narcotics list in 2021 and now regulates a legal market under the Kratom Plant Act B.E. 2565.
Legal, regulated
Legal status
Kratom in the United Kingdom: legal to possess, an offence to supply or import
Kratom is named in no UK drug law, but the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 makes producing, supplying and importing it offences. Possessing it is not a crime, but there is no lawful way to buy it.
Legal to hold, supply banned
Science
Kratom's alkaloids: what mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine are, and what they do
Kratom contains more than forty alkaloids, led by mitragynine and the more potent 7-hydroxymitragynine. What they are, how they act on the brain's receptors, and how much is really known in humans.
Science
Kratom withdrawal: what the evidence shows, and how thin it still is
Regular kratom use can produce an opioid-like withdrawal syndrome, reported across surveys, animal studies and case reports. But there are no controlled human trials, and the evidence stays thin.
News
DEA moves to put concentrated 7-OH in Schedule I, but kratom leaf is not banned
The DEA has filed notices of intent to temporarily schedule 7-hydroxymitragynine above 0.050%. It is a proposal, not a ban, and the fine print is being widely misreported.
Legal status
Kratom in Belgium: a controlled substance since 1 June 2024
Kratom is listed by name in annex IVB to the Belgian royal decree of 6 September 2017, in force since 1 June 2024. Possession without a licence is an offence. We reported the opposite.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in the European Union: no EU-wide ban, but no legal route to sell it as food either
Kratom is not controlled at EU level. But it is an unauthorised novel food, which makes selling it for human consumption unlawful across the bloc, even where it is not banned.
Legal to hold, sale restricted
Legal status
Kratom in France: a psychotropic substance since 2020, and possession is an offence
France classified kratom, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine as psychotropic substances by an arrêté of 23 December 2019. Possession and sale are prohibited. This is a real ban.
Banned
Legal status
Kratom in Germany: legal because a court ruled it has no proven benefit
Germany's kratom trade rests on a 2015 OLG Köln acquittal. The shops citing it never quote the reasoning: kratom escaped medicines law because it does not work as medicine.
Legal to hold, sale restricted
Legal status
Kratom in the Netherlands: not a controlled drug, not a legal food
Kratom appears nowhere in the Dutch Opium Act. It is openly sold in smartshops. It is also, strictly, not lawful to sell for human consumption, and that gap is the whole story.
Legal to hold, sale restricted
Legal status
Kratom in the United States: federally legal, federally unsellable
Kratom is not a controlled substance under federal law. It is also not lawfully marketable as a food, supplement or drug, and the FDA detains it at the border. Both are true.
Legal to hold, sale restricted