Legal tracker
Legal status
Where kratom stands, country by country.
See the overview: what every status label means, and the one-line finding for each country and US state, in one table.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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