December 11, 2025, Press Release from the Office of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine:
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Following a pause to review potential federal action, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced today that he is requesting the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to immediately designate all synthetic kratom compounds and other dangerous compounds derived from the active ingredient in Kratom as illegal drugs through emergency rule. The Governor is also asking the Board of Pharmacy to pursue rules through the regular rulemaking process for scheduling mitragynine (natural kratom).
“In reviewing this issue over the past few weeks, national experts, including the FDA, agree that synthetic kratom compounds should be scheduled as illegal,” said Governor DeWine. “However, while there is a clear path to take action on synthetic kratom, I still have deep concerns about natural kratom, given the harms, including fatalities, attributed to it. Pursuing the regular rule process for a ban on natural kratom will allow for hearings, testimony, and a deliberative process."
Kratom, a plant native to Southeast Asia, is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for consumption or medical use, but it is often marketed for its purported ability to treat chronic pain, opioid dependence, opioid withdrawal, anxiety, depression, and other disorders. Products are sold online and in stores in various forms, including powders, pills, gummies, and drink products.
As kratom has gained in popularity in the United States in recent years, clandestine chemists have modified kratom’s natural chemical compounds into potent chemicals that produce opioid-like effects and are highly addictive. These synthetic and other kratom-derived products, which are often sold in packaging designed to attract youth, have been found to cause psychosis, seizures, insomnia, hallucinations, and death.
According to preliminary data from the Ohio Department of Health, kratom was found to be a cause of death in more than 200 unintentional overdose deaths in Ohio from 2019 to 2024.
Nationally, the FDA is aware of cases in which expectant mothers have used kratom, causing their newborns to suffer from neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome at birth. During the first seven months of 2025, poison control centers nationwide received 1,690 reports of exposure cases involving kratom, which already surpasses the total number of cases for the entire year of 2024.
The FDA recently recommended that the kratom compound 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) be classified as an illegal drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Governor DeWine is asking the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to immediately ban all synthetic chemical compounds and other kratom-derived compounds other than mitragynine. He is also recommending that all existing and future synthetic kratom compounds be banned as well.
Governor DeWine is asking the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to pursue scheduling mitragynine, the active opioid compound found in the natural kratom plant. This pathway recognizes that legislation establishing kratom regulations has been introduced and will allow for hearings on the topic by all interested parties.
