News
News
Regulatory and industry reporting.
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.
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.
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 It has issued one withdrawn notice, one order covering three laboratory compounds, and one proposal still open.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.