Massachusetts Places All Forms of Kratom in Schedule I. Unlike the Federal Action, It Does Not Stop at Concentrates.

An emergency order signed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on August 13 temporarily places kratom — in every form sold in the state — into Schedule I under Massachusetts law. It takes effect at the close of a 14-day notice period running from that order, and remains in place for up to one year.

That scope is the story. The federal proceeding this publication has tracked since July draws a line between botanical leaf and manufactured concentrates. The Massachusetts order does not draw that line at all.

What the Order Does

The order was issued by Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein and announced by Governor Maura Healey's office. It reaches kratom "in all forms" — powders, tablets, capsules, gummies and dissolvable strips among them — and places the substance in the state's Schedule I, the classification the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration defines as covering drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Heroin and LSD sit in the same federal schedule.

Alongside the scheduling action, the order grants local boards of health and other municipal officials direct authority to take enforcement action against retailers that continue to stock the products. Cheryl Sbarra, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, told South Shore News that "until now, kratom products were largely unregulated in Massachusetts." Arlington Police Chief Julie Flaherty said in the same coverage that the order gives officials "the tools they need to hold retailers accountable."

The order also directs state health officials to distribute information about risks and treatment options to local health boards, providers and substance-use services, WBUR reported.

How the State Framed It

Governor Healey's stated rationale was product opacity at the point of sale. "Dangerous kratom products are being sold in stores across Massachusetts with little oversight, and people — including children — often have no way of knowing what they're buying or how potent it is," she said in the announcement.

Commissioner Goldstein framed the action as a response to an emerging risk. "Kratom is increasingly being used by youth and adults, and many are unaware of the risks," he said, as reported by The Boston Globe. In separate remarks reported by South Shore News, he said that "in public health, we need to be nimble, responding to new and emerging threats with evidence-based actions."

Those characterizations are the state's. This publication does not adopt them, and readers should note that a Schedule I designation is a legal classification, not a scientific finding about a product's composition.

The Divergence From the Federal Line

The distinction Massachusetts declined to make is the one the federal government has made explicitly.

As this publication reported on August 25, the Justice Department, announcing the DEA's temporary scheduling of three 7-hydroxymitragynine-related substances, stated that the federal action "is directed at deliberately manufactured and concentrated opioid products, not traditional botanical kratom." The separate and still-unissued federal order on 7-hydroxymitragynine itself is built entirely around a numerical threshold — the July 6 notice of intent proposed reaching only material above 0.050 percent 7-OH by dry weight, or more than 1.00 milligram per article in synthetic and processed dosage forms. The comment window on that threshold is open at the Department of Health and Human Services through September 10.

Massachusetts set no threshold. Whole-leaf powder and a concentrated dosage form receive the same classification under the state order.

That difference drew the sharpest response on the record. Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy at the American Kratom Association, told The Boston Globe he was disappointed by the temporary placement and had hoped the state would follow a regulatory pathway instead. The distinction between naturally occurring and synthetically heightened dosage, he said, is "essential." He added: "What we need is a better understanding of natural kratom leaf as opposed to these chemically manipulated opioid-like chemicals, which are the target of the scheduling recommendation at the federal level."

The association has for several years pressed state legislatures to adopt Kratom Consumer Protection Acts — age limits, labeling standards and product-content rules — on the argument that regulation is the alternative to prohibition. Thirteen states have enacted some version of that framework. Massachusetts, for now, has taken the other route.

What Happens Next

The order is temporary by construction. It runs for up to one year, which leaves the Massachusetts Legislature a window to write a permanent rule of its own, in either direction. Representative Colleen M. Garry has filed separate legislation to regulate rather than prohibit kratom sales in the state; that bill is pending and independent of the department's emergency action.

Two structural questions are worth watching. The first is whether a state Schedule I listing that reaches botanical leaf survives contact with a federal order that expressly does not — a divergence that, once the federal 7-OH order issues, will put a state ban and a federal carve-out side by side. The second is enforcement: the order hands authority to hundreds of local boards of health, and how uniformly those boards act will determine what the rule looks like in practice.

The Kratom Council will report the effective date's arrival, any legislative response, and the federal 7-OH order when it publishes.

Sources

1. The Boston Globe — "Healey temporarily places kratom in same class of drugs as heroin and LSD" (August 13, 2026).
2. WBUR — "Mass. moves to crack down on sales of kratom, an addictive and unregulated substance" (August 13, 2026).
3. GBH News — "Emergency order issued to crack down on kratom products in Mass." (August 13, 2026).
4. South Shore News — "State Moves to Pull Kratom Off Store Shelves, Handing Local Boards of Health New Enforcement Power" (August 2026).
5. The Kratom Council — "DEA Schedules Three 7-OH Analogs Effective Tomorrow. The 7-OH Threshold Order Itself Still Has Not Issued." (August 25, 2026).