Kratom trade brief, 6-13 September 2026: the 7-OH threshold comment window closes

The week of 6 to 13 September 2026 brought no new scheduling orders, but it closed the most consequential open docket in the United States kratom market: the comment window on the 7-hydroxymitragynine threshold, the number that will decide which material is a controlled substance and which is not. In the same week, the academic record that both sides of that argument lean on came under national scrutiny, and the US litigation picture sharpened further around potency and labelling. For wholesale buyers and brand manufacturers, all three point the same way.

The 7-OH threshold docket closed on 10 September

The comment period on the US Department of Health and Human Services request for information on 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) closed on Thursday 10 September. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health had extended the original 31 July deadline in a Federal Register notice published on 26 August, under docket HHS-OASH-2026-0232.

The number at issue matters more to leaf and extract suppliers than any state bill this year. The July request for information set out the specified threshold in two parts: botanical material of Mitragyna speciosa containing more than 0.050 percent 7-OH on a dry weight basis, and other material containing 7-OH in amounts greater than 0.050 percent weight/weight, weight/volume or volume/volume, or greater than 1.00 milligram of 7-OH in the article. Material above that line would fall inside a temporary Schedule I placement. Material below it would not.

HHS was explicit about how narrow the exercise was, stating that it was "not soliciting comments on any permanent scheduling decision, the general safety or utility of kratom-derived products, or other policy questions outside the scope of the threshold determination for temporary scheduling."

The figure was not accepted without challenge. In a comment filed on 31 July, R Street Institute resident senior fellow Dr Jeffrey S. Smith wrote that "current data do not establish that 0.050% by weight or 1.00 mg per article is the point at which 7-OH constitutes an imminent hazard to public safety," and proposed a risk-proportionate framework built on milligrams per serving, concentration, alkaloid ratios, route of administration and manufacturing standards instead.

Why it matters to the trade. Whatever figure the agencies settle on, importers into the United States should expect to need a documented 7-OH result for every lot, expressed on a dry weight basis, from a laboratory a regulator will accept. Buyers still purchasing on a mitragynine specification alone should plan for a two-number specification.

Fresh Kratom Thai angle. Our roasted ground leaf and standardised mitragynine extract are produced on GMP-standard equipment in Bang Len District, Nakhon Pathom, and in Sisaket Province, and have been analysed by the Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR) for mitragynine content, for vitamins and minerals, and for 18 amino acids. If your compliance file will need a 7-OH figure alongside the mitragynine assay, specify it at the quotation stage so it is built into the lot documentation rather than chased after shipment.

Kratom's scientific record comes under national scrutiny

On 10 September, NPR's Here and Now, produced by WBUR, broadcast a segment on a ProPublica investigation into the disclosures of one of the field's most cited researchers. The underlying investigation, published on 1 September by reporter Anjeanette Damon, reported that University of Florida professor Christopher McCurdy had not disclosed longstanding financial ties to the American Kratom Association in his published research and conflict-of-interest statements.

According to ProPublica, those ties included travel reimbursements, among them an $8,700 first-class flight to Indonesia, donations of more than $100,000 to the University of Florida's foundation, and funding for an annual kratom symposium; McCurdy told the outlet that industry donations to the foundation totalled around $1 million. McCurdy said decisions about kratom "should be informed by the best available science" and that travel reimbursements do not influence his "scientific conclusions." AKA senior fellow on public policy Mac Haddow said the organisation has "no control" over what McCurdy tells policymakers. The University of Florida said it found "no indication of non-compliance" in his disclosures.

Why it matters to the trade. A large share of the industry's regulatory case in US state capitols and at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs has rested on a small number of academic voices. When the provenance of that science is publicly contested, evidentiary weight shifts towards analysis a buyer has commissioned or can independently verify on the material actually being shipped.

Fresh Kratom Thai angle. TISTR is a Thai government research institute, not an industry body. A buyer assembling a dossier for a regulator, a retailer or an insurer is generally better served by a state institute report on the specific material they are purchasing than by a citation to the wider literature.

US product liability keeps consolidating around potency and labelling

Also on 10 September, the Daily Caller News Foundation published a survey of the widening kratom litigation landscape in the United States, written by Ireland Owens and carried by BizPac Review. It sets recent wrongful-death filings, including one in which a coroner recorded "acute mitragynine intoxication, with chronic alcohol use," alongside state and municipal enforcement actions.

The enforcement examples show where liability is landing. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued two California online retailers, Pure Leaf Kratom LLC and Outcast Distribution LLC, on 21 April 2026, alleging that products sold into Texas contained 7-OH at 86 to 96 percent of total alkaloid content against the 2 percent cap in the Texas Kratom Consumer Health and Safety Protection Act. The Daily Caller News Foundation also reports a separate action brought by the mayor and city council of Baltimore against kratom manufacturers and distributors in July 2026.

Why it matters to the trade. Very little of this litigation turns on kratom leaf as such. It turns on what was in a specific product, whether the label said so, and whether the seller could prove it. That is a documentation problem, and it runs back up the supply chain to the origin of the material.

Fresh Kratom Thai angle. We grow and process in our own facilities in Nakhon Pathom and Sisaket rather than consolidating material bought on the open market, which is what makes lot-level traceability possible in the first place.

Fresh Kratom Thai supplies standardised mitragynine extract and roasted ground kratom leaf powder to international wholesale buyers and brand manufacturers, produced on GMP-standard equipment in Thailand and analysed by TISTR. For specifications, sample requests, current availability and pricing, contact freshkratomthai@gmail.com.