Sponsors (5)
The bill aims to curb dangerous high‑potency synthetic and manufactured derivatives while protecting simple possession users and compliant kratom sales, but it expands criminal liability and leaves definitional and regulatory uncertainty that may harm patients, researchers, and small businesses.
People who possess small amounts for personal use are protected from prosecution based solely on purchase, receipt, or simple possession, reducing risk of felony charges for non‑commercial users.
Reduces the availability of newly synthesized or enriched high‑potency opioid‑like substances and manufactured kratom derivatives by enabling Schedule I treatment and targeting commercial‑scale manufacture, which can lower the risk of dangerous, higher‑potency products entering the market.
Kratom consumers and small kratom retailers can continue using and selling natural kratom products that meet specified concentration/mass‑ratio thresholds without immediate Schedule I felony exposure, preserving legal access and marketplace continuity for compliant products.
Suppliers, manufacturers, and intermediaries face expanded criminal enforcement and Schedule I penalties for producing, distributing, or handling concentrated/ manufactured extracts or novel opioid analogs, increasing the likelihood of prosecutions and severe penalties for commercial actors.
Ambiguous definitions (e.g., 'synthetic analog', 'produced through manufacturing processes', or what counts as 'commercial distribution') create enforcement uncertainty that can trigger product seizures, prosecutions, and a chilling effect on legitimate research and commercial development.
Producers, processors, and consumers may face higher compliance costs, reduced product variety, and higher prices as manufacturers exit or narrow offerings to avoid thresholds — and some businesses risk inadvertent criminal exposure if formulas or concentrations shift.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Schedules two kratom-derived compounds with narrow natural-product exemptions and creates an enforcement regime treating certain new synthetic opioids as Schedule I for commercial-scale offenses.
Official title: To amend the Controlled Substances Act to schedule MGM-15 and MGM-16 as Schedule I Controlled substances, and to amend the controlled Substances Act to schedule synthetic 7-hydroxymitragynine, and Mitragynine Pseudoindoxyl, as a Schedule I above a specific threshold under the Controlled Substances Act, and to expand enforcement actions against drug manufacturers and distributors of emerging synthetic opioids, commonly known as gas station heroin.
Introduced September 3, 2026 by Lance Gooden · Last progress September 3, 2026
Adds two kratom-derived compounds (7‑hydroxymitragynine and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl) to Schedule I but exempts those same compounds when they occur naturally in Mitragyna speciosa (kratom) or in finished kratom products that meet strict concentration and ratio limits. Creates a separate regulatory/enforcement framework that treats certain newly identified synthetic opioids as if they were Schedule I for the purpose of criminal and civil enforcement of manufacture, distribution, and related commercial offenses, while protecting simple possession and personal use from prosecution. Sets concentration caps for permitted kratom products, excludes synthetically produced or enriched forms from the exemption, and requires use of validated assays and HHS consultation to determine potency for labeling a substance an emerging synthetic opioid. Limits enforcement actions to knowing or intentional commercial-scale activity and excludes FDA-approved drugs, non-human-use substances, certain research and law-enforcement uses, and other enumerated exceptions.