The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently announced that it will temporarily schedule a synthetic version of kratom known as 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), in addition to three related substances. While taking these synthetic products off the market represents a win for public health, it does not go far enough and risks emboldening the sellers of kratom.
Kratom and related products have proliferated throughout the nation in large part because the federal government has taken a hands-off approach to them. The DEA previously announced in August 2016 plans to schedule the active components of kratom, but the agency’s proposal was withdrawn.
The DEA will now place 7-OH––as well as mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16––in Schedule 1. This classification means the substances have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. However, mitragynine, which is the psychoactive compound in natural kratom, will continue to be available to consumers.
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said, “today’s action targets highly concentrated, synthetic 7-OH products, which pose a growing threat to public safety and health.” He noted that “this action gives law enforcement and public health partners the tools needed to address this emerging threat.
In response, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, “7-OH, MP, MGM-15, and MGM-16 are dangerous opioids that fuel addiction and put American lives at risk. HHS reviewed the science and recommended this action.”
Notably, this action came after Kevin A. Sabet wrote in Newsweek in December 2025 that the Trump administration should “move to ban both active components in kratom and stop the damage to public health,” namely 7-OH and mitragynine. He echoed this recommendation in the Washington Examiner in May 2026.
After the DEA announced the temporary scheduling of 7-OH but not mitragynine, Sabet told the New York Times: “singling out 7-OH and stopping there is doing the bidding of the well-funded kratom lobbying groups who, for profit, mislead the public into thinking kratom is benign and 7-OH is its only harmful constituent.”
Natural kratom, sold as products like Botanic Tonics’ Feel Free, will remain on shelves. To protect public health, the DEA must go further by also scheduling mitragynine, as it first proposed in 2016.