Is 7-OH Banned? The DEA's 2026 Kratom Threshold, Explained

On October 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced updated emergency scheduling actions for 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and three related substances. The update takes the form of two new Notices of Intent from the Drug Enforcement Administration, based on updated scientific recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and it centers on a revised threshold meant to separate products that carry trace amounts of these substances from products that have been intentionally concentrated or enhanced.

One point of accuracy up front, because early summaries got it wrong: this is a Notice of Intent with a 30-day notice period, not a final order. The DEA states that it has not yet issued a temporary scheduling order for 7-OH. Here is what the action actually does, and what it means at the supply level.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how any rule applies to a specific product, and in a specific state, with your own counsel.

What the updated action is

The DEA is issuing two Notices of Intent. The first reissues the notice for two synthetic substances, MGM-15 and MGM-16, without changing the current approach. The second is a new notice covering 7-OH together with mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI), built around HHS's updated concentration and ratio thresholds.

On current status: MGPI, MGM-15, and MGM-16 were temporarily placed in Schedule I on August 26, 2026, and those controls remain in effect during the new 30-day notice period. For 7-OH, the DEA had not yet issued a temporary scheduling order and is now reissuing its notice to reflect the updated science. DEA also states that it is withdrawing its earlier July notice on 7-OH and the no-threshold order on MGPI, intending to replace them with this threshold-based approach.

The threshold: a concentration and a ratio

The core of the update is how it defines a concentrated product. Per the announcement, HHS recommended that 7-OH and MGPI be subject to Schedule I control when either substance alone, or their combined amount, exceeds 1 milligram per gram in solid products or 1 milligram per milliliter in liquid products, or when the ratio of mitragynine to 7-OH, MGPI, or their combined amount is less than 100 to 1.

So the proposal rests on two measurable numbers: an absolute concentration of 7-OH and MGPI, and the ratio of mitragynine to those substances. HHS's stated aim is to distinguish products intentionally enhanced or concentrated in these substances from products whose alkaloid composition is more consistent with botanical kratom.

What the update confirms, and does not do

The HHS analysis confirms that 7-OH occurs naturally in botanical kratom at relatively low levels, and notes that MGPI may also occur at trace levels in some botanical or kratom-derived products, with that science still developing. That is the reason the approach is a threshold rather than a flat ban. One caution the DEA states plainly: allowing certain below-threshold products to remain on the market is not a finding that these substances are safe to use at below-threshold levels.

It is also worth being clear about what has not happened. The 7-OH notice is a Notice of Intent with a 30-day notice period, not a temporary scheduling order, and mitragynine, the predominant naturally occurring alkaloid of the leaf, is the reference point in the ratio test rather than a scheduled substance. The notice also does not preempt more restrictive state law. Confirm the status that applies to a specific material and destination with counsel.

What this brings for brands and manufacturers

For the market, the update puts two laboratory numbers at the center of the conversation: how much 7-OH and MGPI a product contains, and the ratio of mitragynine to those substances. Both are things a laboratory measures, not things a label can assert.

That makes per-lot testing the gating step. A Certificate of Analysis that reports the 7-OH concentration and the mitragynine-to-7-OH ratio, lot by lot, is what lets a buyer or a brand see where a material sits against the proposed thresholds instead of guessing.

Standardized single-alkaloid supply

This is where standardization becomes concrete. A material standardized to mitragynine, extracted from the naturally occurring leaf alkaloids and not produced by the semi-synthetic routes that create the named substances, is characterized by exactly the two numbers the proposal uses: a measured 7-OH concentration and a measured mitragynine-to-7-OH ratio.

To be precise, this is a statement about the material and its testing, not about what any alkaloid does for anyone, and not a determination of legal status. Where a given lot falls against the proposed thresholds is a question of its measured numbers and of counsel's reading of the rule, which is why we put the numbers on every Certificate of Analysis.

Where our material stands

We are a US extraction lab that standardizes single alkaloids, mitragynine and speciociliatine, into scored tablets and supplies them in bulk. The material is extracted solvent-free and DCM-free from the naturally occurring leaf alkaloids, it is not produced by the semi-synthetic routes that create the substances named in the action, and every lot is tested with its 7-OH content measured and reported on the Certificate of Analysis.

Mitragynine is available at volume, and we co-pack and private-label these standardized, lot-tested tablets under a brand's own label. For the underlying chemistry, see our guides on mitragynine and how it differs from its diastereomers. For specifications and volume, see bulk and wholesale.

This is a fast-moving area. The notices carry a 30-day notice period, the science HHS cites is still developing, and a temporary scheduling order for 7-OH could follow. Treat the dates, numbers, and citations here as the record as of publication, confirm them against the Federal Register and your own counsel before relying on them, and revisit as the action develops.

This article describes chemistry, manufacturing, testing, and publicly documented regulatory facts only.