The Kilo Drop · News
What is happening in the kratom industry: the laws, the agencies and the people shaping it, each story checked against its source. Plus what is new at The Kilo Drop and Breezy.
A motion filed by federal prosecutors says a toxicology report on Aidan Hamilton and Robert Strang found mitragynine, MGM-15 and MGPI. The report itself has not been made public, and investigators have not said what caused either death.
Source: WMC Action News 5
The DEA served a search warrant at Express Mart #7 in Water Valley as part of an ongoing investigation. Owner Ibrahim Aydah told Fox News the package shown on the news did not come from his store. He has not been charged or accused of wrongdoing.
Source: Fox NewsThe American Medical Association said in its Oct. 2 state advocacy update that it has updated a kratom issue brief for state lawmakers preparing for the 2027 legislative sessions. The brief covers previous efforts to regulate kratom.
Source: American Medical AssociationA judge found probable cause for federal charges against Yahya Mosleh, 51, and Islam Mosleh, 18, of Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford. Both face federal charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
Source: WMC Action News 5 (also AP via PBS)Attorney General Lynn Fitch told NewsNation she will promote legislation next session to ban kratom in all forms. In an Oct. 1 statement, the American Kratom Association urged her to support a ban aimed at synthetic and chemically altered products instead.
Source: NewsNation (via Yahoo News); AKA release
West Tennessee task forces searched Novelty King warehouses in Memphis and Collierville on Oct. 1. Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy said nearly 30,000 packages were seized and that stores selling products banned under Tennessee law are now on notice. No arrests were announced.
Source: Shelby County District Attorney's OfficeMississippi's Department of Public Safety says toxicology for the two University of Mississippi students who died Sep 21 will be finalized 'in due course' and the families will be the first to know. An earlier report that the tests were complete was corrected. No cause of death has been released.
Source: Fox NewsThe American Kratom Association spoke outside the Lafayette County Sheriff's building, saying the tablets in the Ole Miss cases are a federally controlled synthetic, not natural kratom leaf, and asking state officials to make sure full toxicology testing is done. It said no one yet knows the cause of death.
Source: American Kratom Association (video)Lafayette County Metro Narcotics, which is investigating the Ole Miss deaths, called on Mississippi legislators to ban synthetic kratom products and to hold immediate hearings on the state's controlled substance laws. The unit said its earlier warning was not a declaration that kratom or any specific substance caused either death.
Source: WMC Action News 5The Pennsylvania House amended House Bill 2657 on Sept. 30. The bill would keep natural-leaf kratom legal for adults 21 and older, add a 12% retail tax and push back its synthetic ban. It went back to Appropriations and still needs a final House vote, Senate approval and the governor's signature.
Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly; Lehigh DailyCourt documents say the product found at both scenes was 'Smax' Pseudo-DHM tablets whose label lists pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and 7-OH, bought at an Oxford vape shop and a Yalobusha County gas station. The DEA placed mitragynine pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15 in Schedule I on Aug 26. Officials have not linked the products to the deaths.
Source: ABC NewsState Rep. Lee Yancey says he will push for an outright statewide ban on kratom products, or Schedule II status if the Senate will not pass a ban. Mississippi's 2025 law already set a 21+ age limit and banned synthetic 7-OH products.
Source: Magnolia TribuneThe American Kratom Association asked the Lafayette County sheriff to release brand and lot details and lab-test the recovered products, saying a package labeled kratom does not establish what was inside it. It held a press conference on Sep 25.
Source: American Kratom AssociationMetro Narcotics seized more than 500 kratom units and other products from an Oxford store on Sep 24 and charged two employees with possession of Schedule I controlled substances with intent to distribute. Court documents later said one of the students had bought tablets there; officials have not linked the store to the deaths.
Source: Oxford Eagle
The End Gas Station Heroin Act (H.R. 10272, Rep. Gooden; Senate companion by Sen. Moreno) would permanently schedule 7-OH, MGPI, MGM-15 and MGM-16. Natural kratom at or under 1 mg/g and 1 part per 100 parts mitragynine is exempt. The AKA endorsed it Sep 26.
Source: GovInfo, H.R. 10272 introduced bill text
Rensselaer County lawmakers passed a ban on all kratom sales that now awaits the county executive. An Albany County order banning sales took effect Sep 1. A state bill banning high-7-OH products passed both chambers in June and awaits Gov. Hochul.
Source: CBS6 AlbanyPolice say packaged kratom from a retail store was found in both of two separate investigations, and that they have no confirmed information that kratom or any other substance contributed to either death.
Source: Oxford EagleLee County's kratom ban took full effect the week of Sep 14 after a court dismissed an appeal, with shops told to clear shelves by Friday Sep 18. Tupelo, the county seat, began enforcing its own city ban on Sep 12.
Source: WTVA
HHS took public comments through Sep 10 (docket HHS-OASH-2026-0232) on DEA's proposed 7-OH line: over 0.050% for leaf, or over 0.050% or 1.00 mg per item for extracts. As of Sep 28 no final DEA order has been published.
Source: Federal Register 2026-17409 (HHS, via GovInfo)
Gov. Matt Meyer signed HS 1 for HB 332 on Sep 8, barring kratom sales to anyone under 21. State agencies must report on testing, retailer licensing and potency rules by Jan 1, 2027. The AKA counts Delaware as the 22nd state with kratom consumer protections.
Source: Office of the Governor of Delaware, Legislative Advisory #58
Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed HB 1628 on Sep 4. It bans 7-OH and synthetic kratom compounds and limits natural leaf to adults 21+ at licensed retailers with lab-tested labels. All kratom sales stay prohibited until the Attorney General adopts rules.
Source: Office of the Governor of North Dakota
Since Aug 28, Massachusetts lists all kratom, including leaf, as Schedule I for up to one year, making possession, distribution and sale illegal. Four retailers sued in Suffolk Superior Court to block it; no court order stopping it has been reported.
Source: WBUR
The American Kratom Association filed suit in federal court in Washington, D.C. (1:26-cv-02997), asking for a ruling that DEA's MGPI, MGM-15 and MGM-16 order does not cover traditional leaf with only naturally occurring trace amounts.
Source: AKA release via EZ NewswireA DEA temporary order effective Aug 26, 2026 to Aug 26, 2028 places three 7-OH-related compounds in Schedule I. DOJ said it will use enforcement discretion for incidental trace MGPI in botanical kratom, but that this is not a legal exemption.
Source: Federal Register 2026-17429 (DEA, via GovInfo)
FDACS emergency rule 5KER26-11, effective Aug 24, requires kratom labels to state 7-OH in mg/g (or mg/mL) and the mitragynine to 7-OH alkaloid ratio, either on the label or by a QR code that is not only on the bottom of the package.
Source: Florida Administrative Register, rule 5KER26-11Attorney General emergency rule 2ER26-2, effective Aug 18, classifies products as Schedule I if 7-OH exceeds 1 mg/g (or 1 mg/mL) or mitragynine falls below 100 parts per part of 7-OH. MGM-15, MGM-16 and 7-acetoxymitragynine are scheduled outright.
Source: Florida Administrative Register, rule 2ER26-2
Missouri's Attorney General announced Aug 6 that St. Louis-area Green Dragon will stop selling 7-OH and all kratom products in the state. In June, American Shaman agreed to suspend all Missouri kratom sales, in stores and online, backed by a $5 million penalty.
Source: Missouri Attorney General's Office
University of Florida researchers tested 44 kratom-labeled tablets, films, liquid shots and edibles and found measured amounts did not match labels in 85%. The study, in Drug Testing and Analysis, says semisynthetic 7-OH products should be kept distinct from natural kratom.
Source: University of Florida College of Pharmacy
The Governor's office said enforcement teams made 6,750 visits to licensed retailers and removed 6,960 kratom and 7-OH products. The state's position is that kratom and 7-OH products are illegal to sell for consumption in California.
Source: Office of Governor Gavin NewsomVirginia's HB 360 (Chapter 595), in effect July 1, bars kratom sales to anyone under 21, requires products be kept out of direct customer reach with ingredient and warning labels, and bans synthetic alkaloids and products over its 7-OH limits.
Source: BillTrack50 (Virginia HB 360 record)Tennessee's HB 1649 made possessing kratom a Class A misdemeanor and selling it a Class C felony from July 1, 2026. Kansas's HB 2365, signed in April, placed 7-OH-related substances in Schedule I on the same date.
Source: Metro Nashville Beer Permit BoardUtah's SB 45 took effect May 6: kratom extracts and products made from extracts can no longer be sold, and kratom may only be sold by registered Retail Tobacco Specialty Businesses. A federal judge declined to block the law on May 4.
Source: Utah Department of Agriculture and Food
Under KRS 217.2202 as amended in 2026, sellers may not distribute or sell any kratom, kratom extract or kratom product starting July 1, 2027. Until then, sales stay limited to adults 21+ and 7-OH may not exceed 2% of total alkaloids.
Source: Kentucky Legislature, KRS 217.2202 (future version)No stories in this section yet.
From Glynne
In his own words, not rewritten from a headline.
A federal comment window was open on where the line gets drawn for 7-OH; it closed Thursday, September 10. Most of what you read about it was wrong in the same way: it treated a concentration limit and a per-package limit as if they were the same thing.
They are not. A percentage cap is fair. It measures how strong something is, which is the thing that actually matters. A flat cap of one milligram per article punishes SIZE instead of strength: the same product in a bigger jar breaks the rule while a tiny bottle of something far stronger does not.
Our position is simple. Keep the 0.050% concentration limit. Drop the flat per-article cap. That is what we asked for, and anyone can say the same in their own words.
Docket HHS-OASH-2026-0232 · comments closed Thursday, September 10
At The Kilo Drop & Breezy
The next drop is every other Saturday, 8pm ET, live in the Breezy Trees group as always. Five kilos, five winners, drawn on camera.
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