The law draws this line through chemistry, not packaging. A plain kratom leaf product holds 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) only in the small share the plant produces on its own. A 7-OH product is sold for a 7-OH content that unaltered leaf can’t supply. Federal regulators now want to measure that gap with two numbers, and many states already measure it with their own.
As of late October 2026, the federal version of that line is still a proposal. On October 14, 2026, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) put out a notice of intent saying the temporary order to follow “will be published on or after November 13, 2026,” with publication and legal effect landing on the same day. Nothing had appeared when this was written, so look up the agency’s newest Federal Register entries before you lean on any date below. What follows describes the law in general terms. It isn’t legal advice.
Is kratom leaf legal under federal law?
Yes, at the federal level. The kratom plant (Mitragyna speciosa) isn’t on any federal schedule, and neither is mitragynine. Mitragynine and 7-OH are separate alkaloids, and the law handles them separately.
DEA’s October 14 notice (91 FR 65370, docket DEA-1570) doesn’t change that. It states that it doesn’t schedule mitragynine or the plant. What it aims at is 7-OH plus a second compound, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MP), which DEA says forms when the 7-OH molecule is chemically rearranged. A separate order already placed MP in temporary Schedule I on August 26, 2026, with no minimum amount.
But leaving the plant alone isn’t the same as approving of it. The same document says DEA remains concerned about kratom and both alkaloids, and it cautions that falling under the threshold shouldn’t be read as a sign of safety. On October 7, 2026, Senator Chuck Grassley and two Senate colleagues wrote to DEA and FDA asking, among other things, that DEA consider scheduling the whole plant. As of late October, the plant remained unscheduled.
How does the October notice separate leaf from 7-OH products?
Two separate tests apply, and a product caught by either one is covered. The first is concentration. A solid, such as a powder or a capsule, is caught above 1 mg of 7-OH per gram. A liquid is caught above 1 mg per milliliter. MP counts toward the same line, so 7-OH and MP are added together when both are present.
The second test is a ratio, and it’s the one built around the leaf. You divide the mass of mitragynine by the mass of 7-OH (or of 7-OH plus MP). A result under 100 puts the product in Schedule I, whatever its concentration.
Why 100? In FDA’s account, 7-OH is a minor alkaloid, accounting for less than 2% of all the alkaloids in an untouched kratom leaf. The cutoff itself came from HHS, which put its recommendation in an October 8 letter to DEA and described the aim as splitting products someone has deliberately boosted or concentrated from those that look like ordinary botanical kratom. A low ratio is the chemical fingerprint of that enhancement.
For scale, a figure of 1% by weight works out to 10 mg in every gram, which puts the 1 mg/g line at a tenth of a percent. These numbers replaced a July 2026 proposal that used more than 0.050% 7-OH or more than 1.0 mg per article, which DEA withdrew in the October notice. For the thresholds set beside the dates, a plain summary of what the October notice covers and leaves out tracks each step against the Federal Register record.
Which states allow leaf but restrict concentrated 7-OH?
Nineteen states take a middle path, by an October 21, 2026 count. They allow some leaf kratom while banning or capping concentrated and synthetic 7-OH.
Ohio is the clearest example of a leaf exemption. Since May 19, 2026, 7-OH, MP, MGM-15 and 7-acetoxymitragynine have been Schedule I there, with natural leaf exempt under Ohio Administrative Code 4729:9-1-01.1. Utah went further in a different direction. It now permits pure leaf kratom and nothing else, under SB 45, which took effect on May 6, 2026. Extract products are barred, and only a registered retail tobacco specialty business may make the sale.
Other states use percentage caps. Texas and Arizona cap 7-OH at 2% of the alkaloid content and bar synthetics. Oklahoma’s SB 891 sets the cap at 1% of total kratom alkaloids. Rhode Island, which replaced its ban with the Kratom Act on April 1, 2026, caps natural 7-OH at 0.5 mg per gram and at 1% of total alkaloids.
Look closely at the units. A cap stated as a share of alkaloids is really a ratio idea, close in spirit to DEA’s mitragynine test. A cap stated in mg per gram measures 7-OH against the whole product, filler included. So the same item can pass a state’s percentage cap and still fail the federal concentration test, or the other way round.
Which states ban the leaf as well?
A smaller group draws no leaf line at all. Ten states appear in the DEA notice as places where 7-OH is already prohibited, and in some of them the ban extends to mitragynine or to the plant.
Indiana has banned kratom since 2014. Its code names mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine as synthetic drugs (IC 35-31.5-2-321), and synthetic drugs sit in Schedule I under IC 35-48-2-4(g). Possession is a Class A misdemeanor, and dealing starts as a Level 6 felony. Lawmakers tried to change course in 2023, when HB 1500 cleared the House on a 53 to 40 vote and then went nowhere in the Senate. The details of Indiana’s ban on the leaf and its alkaloids show why the federal leaf exemption gives an Indiana resident no cover at all.
Tennessee’s version is newer. Matthew Davenport’s Law (HB 1649, enacted as Public Chapter 950) was signed on May 7 and has been in force since July 1, 2026. Local reporting by Historic Union County says the law classifies kratom itself as a controlled substance, not only mitragynine and 7-OH. Possession is a Class A misdemeanor. Selling or manufacturing is a Class C felony.
Alabama and Arkansas list both alkaloids in Schedule I. Connecticut scheduled kratom and 7-OH on March 25, 2026. Massachusetts placed the plant itself in Schedule I by emergency order from August 28, 2026, for one year.
Does federal legality make leaf products approved or safe?
No. On its kratom page, last updated December 2, 2025, FDA explains that kratom can’t be lawfully sold in the US as a drug product, nor as a dietary supplement. In FDA’s analysis, kratom counts as a new dietary ingredient, and because the safety information behind it is inadequate, any supplement containing it is adulterated. Added to conventional food, FDA treats it as an unsafe food additive.
FDA’s consumer warning goes further. It advises people not to use kratom at all, pointing to serious adverse events with liver toxicity and seizures among them. For 7-OH specifically, FDA’s July 29, 2025 announcement stated that no 7-OH drug has FDA approval and that dietary supplements can’t lawfully contain 7-OH.
My view is that the leaf and 7-OH split is a scheduling line, not a safety line. I’d treat a product on either side of it as unapproved, because that’s how FDA treats it.
How can you tell which side of the line a product sits on?
Begin with your state, not the federal notice. If you live in Indiana, the leaf question is already answered, and Tennessee’s law, as reported locally, reaches the plant as well. If you live in a cap state, find the statute and note whether the cap is a percentage of alkaloids or a figure per gram, because that decides which lab number matters.
Then read the batch certificate of analysis (COA). The batch or lot number has to match the package, since a COA describes one sample from one batch. Look for separate figures for mitragynine, 7-OH and MP. A panel that skips MP can’t supply the MP number the federal ratio test needs. A result marked “ND” sits under the lab’s detection limit, which doesn’t prove the amount is zero.
So what can’t a COA tell you? DEA’s October text is silent on which analytical method or sampling plan a lab should use. Nor does it say how an ND result would be handled. A product near either threshold could be read differently by an enforcement lab. The final order could also differ from the notice, so confirm what took effect on the Federal Register’s DEA page, where a real order appears as a “Rule” with an effective date.