DEA makes kratom-related compounds Schedule I substances on an emergency basis

By Kristen Rogers, CNN

(CNN) — The federal government is cracking down on some potent kratom-related compounds — two of which are currently sold in consumer products such as powders, chewable tablets and liquid shots at gas stations, smoke shops and convenience stores.

The US Department of Justice, which includes the Drug Enforcement Administration, has classified three semisynthetic opioid-like compounds as Schedule I substances — the category the federal government uses for illicit substances with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” The Schedule I list also includes heroin, LSD and cannabis.

The scheduling is for two years on an emergency basis, according to the announcement released August 25.

In the announcement, US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the “Justice Department is acting before these dangerous compounds become a broader threat.”

The substances are “being manufactured and sold in consumer products, often under labels that obscure their true risks,” Blanche added. “This action will protect our nation’s children and communities from the dangers of drug addiction and abuse.”

The DOJ cited some research on opioid-like effects in animals. Some clinicians say they have in fact been increasingly concerned about the number of patients with dependencies on these products, including Dr. Myles Jen Kin, a physician board-certified in addiction and emergency medicine.

“A year ago, I might see maybe one a week, and now we’re probably seeing 10 cases a week,” Kin, medical director at the Recovery Centers of America’s Massachusetts location, said. “I think this is a necessary regulation that needs to happen.”

What the DEA banned

Kratom is made from the leaves of a tropical tree scientifically known as Mitragyna speciosa and native to Southeast Asia, and it has both stimulant and sedative effects. The herb has more than 40 alkaloids, which naturally occur in plants. These organic compounds contain nitrogen and may have pronounced physiological effects on humans. Morphine and caffeine are alkaloids.

Mitragynine is the most abundant psychoactive alkaloid in kratom. When kratom is metabolized in the body or dried in the manufacturing process, it turns into 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH. The compound 7-OH is typically up to 1% to 2% of the total content of natural leaf kratom products and some kratom extracts. Both natural kratom and semisynthetic derivatives carry risk for addiction due to how they interact with the brain.

The newly banned compounds include mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, commonly known as MGPI — it’s a high-potency, chemically rearranged derivative of 7-OH. The other two substances, MGM-15 and MGM-16, are also semisynthetic derivatives of 7-OH. While MGM-16 has not been confirmed to be found in the consumer market, the DOJ said, the agencies acted out of concern that the compound would have emerged “as a substitute for related substances.”

The federal government began raising alarms about semisynthetic, concentrated 7-OH in July 2025, when the US Department of Health and Human Services recommended Schedule I classification for the substance without providing data at that time. Many products marketed as semisynthetic 7-OH also contain MGPI or MGM-15, but not all. The Department of Health and Human Services has extended until September 10 the period for public comment on a proposed threshold for 7-OH scheduling under the Controlled Substances Act.

Kin is concerned about how the new classification will likely send some dependent customers into withdrawal or to dangerous alternatives, and so is Dr. Caleb Banta-Green, a research professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine. Some people with opioid use disorder turn to natural or semisynthetic kratom-related products as potentially less harmful alternatives or to manage withdrawal symptoms after quitting opioids, Banta-Green said.

“If you stop taking any of these chemicals and you are feeling sick, immediately seek care at the closest addiction medicine or treatment center in the area,” Kin said. “If you’re having a life-threatening crisis, then obviously you should go to the hospital.”

You can experience worse effects if you try to stop using these products on your own, he added.

The DOJ decision will also prevent research on any potential medicinal value the substances may have, which a lower classification would have allowed along with regulation, Banta-Green added.

Opioid-like compounds

Both natural kratom and semisynthetic products have been associated with mild to severe cases of addiction and poisoning.

The natural and semisynthetic versions of 7-OH and mitragynine can bind to the brain’s mu opioid receptors, which help regulate pain, breathing, gastrointestinal activity and more.

That binding — along with effects similar to those of opioid drugs such as heroin, fentanyl or oxycodone — has led some experts and politicians to refer to kratom and its compounds of concern as opioids. But because they may not fit the receptors as well or bind to them as tightly as typical opioids do, they may have a weaker biological effect.

Natural kratom isn’t federally regulated and cannot be lawfully added to conventional food, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The herb thus isn’t “lawfully marketed in the U.S. as a drug product, a dietary supplement, or a food additive in conventional food.”

Dr. Kirsten Smith, a leading kratom researcher and former assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University, told CNN last year there is no scientific evidence justifying the greater focus on semisynthetic 7-OH than natural kratom. The natural kratom alkaloid mitragynine still converts to 7-OH during manufacturing and in the body, she added.

The government’s moves over the past year effectively modified its previous stance of the past decade, which included efforts to classify naturally occurring mitragynine and 7-OH as Schedule I substances on an emergency temporary basis, following reports of kratom abuse and poisonings. The FDA had also said kratom qualified as an opioid and discouraged consuming it.

Before the latest DEA decision, some states had followed in the federal administration’s footsteps by either classifying semisynthetic 7-OH as a schedule I substance or otherwise restricting the substance, including Florida, Ohio, Kentucky and California. Natural kratom is regulated in at least 22 states and has been banned in eight of those states, including Alabama, Connecticut, Ohio and Vermont.

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