Legal status
The status key
What each legal-status label means, and the one-line finding for every country and US state where we have read the instrument ourselves.
What the labels mean
A status names the conduct it turns on, not how severe the position is. Colour carries two things: the hue says what kind of restriction applies, and within each hue lighter is looser, darker is stricter. The word is always printed beside the colour, so nothing here depends on seeing it.
- Banned
A controlled substance. Possessing it, supplying it and importing it are all prohibited.
16 countries · 1 US state
- Banned, possession decriminalised
A prohibited substance: supplying and importing it are offences. Personal possession is dealt with as an administrative matter rather than by a criminal court, which makes it cheaper to be caught with, not lawful to hold.
2 countries
- Legal to hold, supply banned
Possessing it is not an offence, but producing, supplying or importing it is. There is no lawful route to obtain it.
2 countries
- Legal to hold, sale restricted
Not a controlled substance: possessing and using it are lawful. Selling it for human consumption is not, because food or medicines law has authorised no kratom product.
9 countries · 1 US state
- Prescription only
The only lawful route runs through a prescriber. There is no over-the-counter route, and holding it without a prescription is not lawful.
Nothing carries this label yet.
- Legal, regulated
Lawful to possess and to buy, under a regime the state built for it: typically age limits, potency caps and rules on who may sell.
2 countries · 4 US states
- Legal
No instrument controls kratom here, and no separate food or medicines rule bars selling it.
Nothing carries this label yet.
- Unclear
We read the instruments and they do not settle the question. That is a finding about the law, not a gap in the research, and it is not permission.
Nothing carries this label yet.
Grey is not a midpoint. Unclear means we opened the instrument and it did not settle the question. That is a finding about the law, and it is never rounded up to legal or down to banned, because both directions can put you in front of a magistrate. A country with no page at all is a different thing again: it means we have not read it yet, which is a fact about us.
Europe
| Jurisdiction | Status | In brief |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | Legal to hold, sale restricted | Absent from the narcotics regulation and from the NPS list. EU novel food law is the only bar on selling it. |
| Belgium | Banned | Listed by name in annex IVB to the royal decree of 6 September 2017, in force since 1 June 2024. |
| Czechia | Legal, regulated | A regulated psychomodulatory substance since 2025. Adults may buy it in specialised shops, under potency and packaging limits. |
| Denmark | Banned | On list B of the euphoriant substances order since March 2009, plant and both alkaloids. Medical and scientific use only. |
| Estonia | Banned | Plant and both alkaloids on List I. Handling is prohibited outside medicine, science, law enforcement and teaching. |
| Finland | Legal to hold, supply banned | Off the consumer market since 2016: no manufacture, import, storage, sale or supply. Possession and use are not on that list. |
| France | Banned | Kratom and both alkaloids classified as psychotropic substances by the arrêté of 23 December 2019. Possession is an offence. |
| Germany | Legal to hold, sale restricted | Named in neither the BtMG nor the NpSG schedules, and a 2015 OLG Köln acquittal settled the trade. Novel food law still bars sale. |
| Hungary | Legal to hold, sale restricted | In none of the three lists kept by decree 78/2022. EU novel food law still bars selling it for human consumption. |
| Iceland | Banned | Kratom and both alkaloids in Annex I of the narcotics regulation, in the column that makes possession unlawful. |
| Ireland | Banned | Both alkaloids in Schedule 1, worded to reach any plant material containing them. Possession is an offence, not only supply. |
| Italy | Banned, possession decriminalised | Plant and mitragynine listed as Table I narcotics in August 2016. Supply carries prison; personal possession is administrative. |
| Latvia | Banned | Plant and both alkaloids on List I, the strictest schedule. One gram of dried leaf is the threshold for a small amount. |
| Lithuania | Banned | The plant and its extract on List I, prohibited for medical use; mitragynine separately on List II, permitted for it. |
| Netherlands | Legal to hold, sale restricted | Absent from the Opiumwet, so possession is lawful and smartshops sell it. EU novel food law bars sale for consumption. |
| Norway | Banned | Kratom and both alkaloids on the narcotics list, flagged under section 5, which bans use and possession as well as supply. |
| Poland | Banned | A scheduled narcotic drug in group I-N. Possession can carry three years; importing and selling are separate offences. |
| Portugal | Banned, possession decriminalised | Not in the drug tables. On the new psychoactive substances list, where producing or selling it is a serious economic offence. |
| Romania | Banned | Plant and both alkaloids in Table III of the drug law. Possession for your own use still carries prison or a fine. |
| Slovakia | Banned | Named in group I of the schedule to the narcotics Act. Uncorrected older copies of that Act are why the listing is often missed. |
| Spain | Legal to hold, sale restricted | Absent from the psychotropics annex, so not a controlled drug. EU novel food law is the bar that actually bites. |
| Sweden | Banned | The plant itself became a narcotic on 11 March 2025. Possessing, selling, importing and using it are all criminal offences. |
| Switzerland | Banned | Mitragynine is scheduled and the plant is not. A Zurich appeal court held kratom containing it is a narcotic, and convicted a seller. |
| Turkey | Banned | Plant and three alkaloids under the narcotics law since January 2014. The annex is a scan, which is why the listing is missed. |
| United Kingdom | Legal to hold, supply banned | Named in no drug law, but the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 makes supplying and importing it offences. Possession is not. |
Americas
| Jurisdiction | Status | In brief |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | Legal to hold, sale restricted | Not a controlled drug, so possession is lawful. Health Canada has authorised no kratom product, so there is no lawful sale. |
| United States of America | Legal to hold, sale restricted | Not a federally controlled substance, and not lawfully marketable as a food, supplement or drug. The FDA detains it at the border. |
Asia
| Jurisdiction | Status | In brief |
|---|---|---|
| Indonesia | Legal to hold, sale restricted | The health ministry says it is not a narcotic. Growing and holding it are lawful; BPOM bars it as a health-product ingredient. |
| Malaysia | Banned | Mitragynine is in the Third Schedule to the Poisons Act 1952. Section 30 makes importing, selling, possessing and using it offences. |
| Thailand | Legal, regulated | Off the narcotics list since 2021 and governed by the Kratom Plant Act B.E. 2565. Adults may grow, hold, buy and consume leaf. |
Bloc-wide
Applies across all twenty-seven member states at once, on top of whatever each one does itself. It is not drawn on the map, because it is not a country.
| Jurisdiction | Status | In brief |
|---|---|---|
| European Union | Legal to hold, sale restricted | Not controlled at EU level, but an unauthorised novel food, so selling it for human consumption is unlawful across the bloc. |
United States, by state
Read separately from federal law, and they are not the same answer. The federal position reaches one concentrated compound; the bans and the consumer-protection acts are all state law. A state absent from this table is one we have not read yet, not one with nothing to say.
| State | Status | In brief |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Banned | Mitragynine and hydroxymitragynine in Schedule I since 2016. In March 2026 the Attorney General told retailers to stop selling. |
| Florida | Legal, regulated | Leaf sold under a food permit to over-21s. 7-OH is Schedule I above 1 mg/g by emergency rule, with a 100:1 mitragynine floor. |
| Maryland | Legal to hold, sale restricted | Health-General 21-2E: over-21s, a 2% 7-OH ceiling, and a clause barring the sale of any product the FDA has not recognised. |
| Oklahoma | Legal, regulated | Kratom Consumer Protection Act since November 2021: over-18s, a 1% 7-OH ceiling, and eight mandatory items on the label. |
| Oregon | Legal, regulated | Kratom Consumer Protection Act 2022: over-21s, and processors register with the Department of Revenue and third-party test every batch. |
| Utah | Legal, regulated | Pure leaf kratom only, from registered sellers, to over-21s. 7-OH is Schedule I, exempted only for leaf that complies. |
How to read a row
The in brief column names the instrument or the effect and stops. It is a pointer, not a summary: the country page carries the reasoning, the dates and the primary sources, and it is the one to open before you act on anything. Nothing on this site is legal advice.
Every row is generated from the country pages themselves rather than maintained beside them, so this list cannot fall out of step with them. It also cannot be incomplete: a legal page that does not carry its one-line finding fails the build.