Elected Officials' Key Resources for Regulating Kratom

You can protect your constituents from dangerous synthetic products without criminalizing the millions of adults who use natural kratom responsibly. Twenty-two states have already done it. Here is the playbook.

The decision in front of you

Every kratom bill or ordinance comes down to one choice: ban or regulate. The evidence on which one works is not close.

Six states banned kratom before 2017, when FDA was signaling an imminent federal ban. That ban never came. FDA's scheduling request was withdrawn by HHS in 2018 for "embarrassingly poor evidence," and the World Health Organization declined to recommend international control in 2021. No state has enacted a ban since 2016. In the same period, 22 states, most recently North Dakota (HB 1628, September 2026) and Delaware (September 11, 2026), passed the Kratom Consumer Protection Act. Bans push consumers to unregulated online and black-market products with no age check, no label and no testing. Regulation puts the state in charge of what is on the shelf.

The federal government is on the same page

FDA and HHS target 7-OH, not kratom. On July 29, 2025, HHS transmitted a recommendation to DEA to place chemically manipulated 7-hydroxymitragynine in Schedule I. The Commissioner has been explicit that the action is not aimed at natural leaf kratom.
DEA agrees 7-OH products are not kratom. In July 2026, DEA confirmed that chemically manipulated 7-OH products are distinct from the natural botanical.
NIH is studying kratom's main alkaloid as a medicine. On June 1, 2026, FDA cleared the first Phase I human trial of purified mitragynine for opioid use disorder, under the NIH HEAL Initiative.
FDA's own dose study found natural kratom "well tolerated at all dose levels."

"7-OH is an opioid that can be more potent than morphine. We need regulation and public education to prevent another wave of the opioid epidemic."Marty Makary, M.D., FDA Commissioner, July 29, 2025

A state that bans natural kratom today is banning the plant the federal government is testing as an addiction treatment, while doing nothing the federal government has not already done about 7-OH.

What the Kratom Consumer Protection Act does

The KCPA is model legislation AKA has refined with 22 legislatures. Core provisions:

Age restriction. No sales to anyone under 18 (or 21, at the state's discretion), with penalties for retailers.
Adulteration ban. No kratom product may contain synthetic alkaloids, and 7-OH may not exceed 2 percent of total alkaloid content. This provision removes 7-OH tablets, shots and gummies from the market.
Labeling. Every product must list mitragynine content per serving, serving size, and directions for use, and may not make disease claims.
Registration and enforcement. Manufacturers and sellers register with the state; the state may fine, seize product, and revoke registration for violations.
Manufacturing standards. Products must be produced under dietary-supplement good manufacturing practices (21 C.F.R. 111).

AKA supplies bill language, section-by-section analysis, fiscal notes and testimony, and will send a witness to your hearing.

For city and county officials

If your state has not yet passed the KCPA, you do not have to choose between a ban and inaction. AKA's model Kratom Consumer Protection Ordinance gives local governments the same tools: an age limit, a synthetic ban with the 2 percent 7-OH cap, labeling and packaging rules, and behind-the-counter placement. Riverside and Coachella, California, and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, are current examples. Local enforcement works: Richland, Washington's "Operation Zero Tolerance" produced arrests for underage sales of tobacco, alcohol and kratom in a single sweep.

Answering the hard questions

"People are dying from kratom.": Reported deaths overwhelmingly involve other drugs, and forensic labs rarely distinguish natural mitragynine from synthetic 7-OH. A 2019 federal review found 11 kratom-associated deaths over six years, two involving kratom alone, against more than 200,000 opioid deaths. FDA and NIDA both describe kratom-associated deaths as rare.
"It's an opioid.": Mitragynine partially activates mu-opioid receptors, as do compounds in coffee and chocolate. NIDA reports that neither kratom leaves nor mitragynine appear to cause the respiratory depression that kills in an opioid overdose. Chemically concentrated 7-OH can, which is why it should be scheduled and natural kratom should not.
"Kids are using it.": Only 0.44 percent of U.S. adolescents report ever trying kratom. The KCPA's age limit and retail-placement rules close the remaining gap.
"FDA hasn't approved it.": FDA does not approve botanicals or dietary supplements for any use. Thousands of legal products on pharmacy shelves are in the same position.