What is kratom, herb drawing scrutiny from lawmakers?

Kratom, a plant with opioid-like properties sold over the counter, has drawn growing scrutiny from lawmakers on Capitol Hill as some states seek to ban the product or its synthetic derivatives .

Calls for a federal response, including Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) request that the Trump administration act, come after compounds of kratom were found in connection with the deaths of two University of Mississippi students last month.

Kratom-related exposure reports went up by 1,200 percent from 2015 to 2025, according to a March report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though overdoses and deaths connected to the plant are rare.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) describes kratom, or Mitragyna speciosa, as an herbal substance related to the coffee family and originating from tropical trees in Southeast Asia.

It can produce “opioid- and stimulant-like effects” and can be used to manage drug withdrawal symptoms and cravings, as well as to ease conditions like chronic pain, anxiety, depression, coughing and diarrhea.

The substance, typically sold in capsule and powder form, contains the well-studied chemical compounds mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH). Kratom interacts with the human brain similarly to how chocolate, coffee and exercise do through receptor sites in the brain.

Although 7-OH naturally occurs within kratom, the synthetic form can be 13 times more potent than morphine, a Schedule II narcotic in the U.S., and contains as much as 500 percent more 7-OH than the herb contains naturally, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2025 .

The FDA has not approved any uses of kratom, while the NIDA warns that some kratom users reported feeling dizzy, nauseated, drowsy and constipated after using the product.

Grassley on Friday called on the Trump administration to finalize the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) proposed rule to ban any synthetic kratom.

The Iowa Republican warned against kratom, calling it “special interest snake oil.” He said the plant should not be made available at gas stations, vape shops or “ANYWHERE.”

Other Republican lawmakers warned against kratom’s effects, with Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) calling kratom products “highly addictive and can be laced with even deadlier drugs.”

“This poison is being falsely marketed as a supplement when, in reality, it’s a dangerous drug killing children and destroying the lives of so many families,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) wrote Friday on the social platform X . “FDA and DEA need to act NOW.”

Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) accused the administration of corruption over Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s reported support for the kratom industry. The New York Times obtained a disclosure statement listing Mullin as having as much as $1 million invested in kratom company Botanic Tonics.

“When Mullin was a senator, he pushed the FDA on kratom’s behalf, urging the agency to scrub safety warnings from its website,” Levin wrote in June on X . “Then, after Trump nominated him to lead DHS, the Justice Department dropped its lawsuit against the company he holds investments in, and he STILL hasn’t divested.”

The Department of Homeland Security said in response to the Times’s reporting that Mullin “follows all ethics and conflict of interest standards and has not lobbied for any individual or company.”

The DEA published its proposed rule to temporarily ban certain synthetic versions of kratom in July.

It would classify kratom products as Schedule I substances if they contain more than 0.05 percent dry weight of 7-OH and would allow the milder version of the plant “to continue flying under regulatory radar,” health news outlet Stat reported last month.

The agency also temporarily scheduled three 7-OH-related substances found online in candies, tablets and liquid shots. The DEA said MP, MGM-15 and MGM-16 are marketed as kratom extracts when they actually contain synthetic opioid compounds and do not occur naturally. In August, the DEA announced emergency scheduling of MGM-15 and MGM-16.

Though the DEA lists kratom as a “drug of concern,” these changes did not impact that. The agency specified that it was not seeking to regulate botanical kratom products.

The proposed rule has not been finalized. If it is, it would remain in effect for up to two years, with the chance to be extended if the DEA chooses to pursue a permanent scheduling.

Compounds of kratom found in connection with student deaths

In September, two students at the University of Mississippi were found dead in a dorm room with “packaged kratom” bought from a retail store identified by investigators, according to the Lafayette County Metro Narcotics team .

The kratom found with the students contained 7-OH, MP and MGM-15, CNN reported , citing court documents.

None of the compounds have been confirmed as causing or contributing to the deaths of freshman Aidan Hamilton and junior Robert Strang. Autopsy results from the Lafayette County coroner remain pending, according to Memphis-based Nexstar affiliate WREG .

Shawnboda Mead, the University of Mississippi’s vice chancellor for student affairs, warned against “inaccurate information” about Hamilton and Strang’s deaths “being shared by individuals who do not have access to the facts.”

“We can all help by not repeating information that has not been officially confirmed and by avoiding public speculation about what happened or why, especially as the causes of the two deaths are still under investigation,” Mead said.

The substance largely remains legal across the U.S., though 108 out of around 400 state bills on kratom proposed banning the substance, according to an analysis from The Washington Post . Another 258 bills set limitations and requirements, such as age and potency limits, that ban synthetic kratom but keep natural kratom legal.

Kratom has been fully banned in nine states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Vermont, Louisiana, Tennessee and Wisconsin, with Massachusetts being the most recent state to join the list in August.

State lawmakers in Washington, Michigan and South Carolina have proposed banning the substance, and Rhode Island reversed its ban to make the product legal for adults 21 years and older.