On Tuesday, January 6, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy (BOP) announced it was taking steps to ban all kratom in the state of Ohio.
In August, the BOP proposed an emergency ban placing both mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) on the list of Schedule I controlled substances. The ban was halted after a call from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.
Subsequently, DeWine announced an apparent ban using the emergency rule on four compounds (7-OH, Mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, Dihydro-7-hydroxy mitragynine, and 7-acetoxymitragynine) for a period of 180 days, during which the BOP will propose a rule to permanently ban the compounds. In a confusing and clumsily-worded statement, natural kratom and mitragynine was apparently spared from the emergency ban. However, DeWine expressed that natural kratom and mitragynine would be subject to the usual rule-making process of the BOP.
From a statement issued by the BOP:
Comments on the proposed rule will be accepted until close of business on January 28, 2026.
Comments must be submitted electronically using this online comment form:
www.pharmacy.ohio.gov/MITcomment
Copies of these comments will be provided to the Common Sense Initiative.
IMPORTANT: This proposed rule bans the sale and possession of mitragynine, the primary
psychoactive alkaloid found in the Mitragyna speciosa plant, commonly known as kratom.
In an email, the American Kratom Association (AKA) said:
The Ohio Board of Pharmacy is accepting public comments on its proposed Mitragynine Rule, and this is a critical opportunity for kratom consumers to be heard.
Comments are due by close of business on January 28, 2026.
If advocates do not speak up, Ohio can criminalize all kratom.
Please take a few minutes to share your perspective as a kratom consumer, patient, or advocate. Personal stories and clear statements supporting science-based regulation — not prohibition are especially impactful.
My name is Erik Thorvaldson. I am a 39-year-old father of four. I have been an Ohio resident since 2008. I am a paramedic and have been saving people’s lives for over 15 years. I was involved in a very serious car accident that left me debilitated and hooked on prescription pain killers for over a decade and a half. Kratom saved my life from this hell on earth that I experienced. For me, Kratom saved my life. Before I found kratom, I was contemplating suicide. If you remove God’s Gift to us, and turn me into a criminal, then you will greatly be affecting me and my 4 children’s lives. I am begging you, please do not an regular kratom. It has SAVED MILLIONS OF PEOPLES LIVES IN THE USA. If alcohol which is perfectly legal, and kills 200k people a year in the USA alone, then why are you focusing so hard on kratom and not alcohol? I have voted for this administration numerous times in the last 12 years and I am fully ashamed by your actions to turn hundreds of thousands of us Ohio Born patriots into criminals. This will ABSOLUTELY END UP IN PEOPLES DEATHS! We will remember this come next time for elections. PLEASE DO NOT KILL ME OR TURN ME INTO A CRIMINAL. Kratom saved my life!
To: Ohio Board of Pharmacy
Re: Public Comment on Proposed Mitragynine Rule
Submitted by: Leonard Ford
Good afternoon,
I am writing as a responsible kratom consumer, a 100 percent service disabled veteran, and a working educator. I currently serve as a special education teacher, and I also work as an adjunct professor. I am not writing to argue for getting people high. I am writing because kratom helped me rebuild my life in a way that prescription medications never did, and a ban on mitragynine would punish people like me who are doing everything the right way.
After my military service, I dealt with the kind of ongoing pain, stress, and day to day functioning issues that a lot of veterans live with quietly. I tried the normal routes. Some treatments helped a little, some came with side effects, and some pushed me toward a place I did not want to go. Kratom was different for me. In reasonable amounts, it helped me stay steady, show up for work, and be present for my students and my family. It did not make me feel intoxicated. It helped me function like a normal adult again.
Because of that stability, I have been able to keep a career in public service, maintain professional responsibilities, and serve kids who need consistency and structure. I work in a setting where young people are watching adults closely to see what “healthy coping” looks like. For me, kratom has been part of choosing stability and responsibility, not chaos.
A Schedule I style approach to mitragynine would not solve the real problem. It would create a bigger one.
It would push ordinary consumers into an unsafe black market. If legal, testable products disappear, people will not magically stop needing relief. They will just lose safer options and consumer protections.
It would criminalize otherwise law abiding Ohioans, including veterans and working professionals, for possession of a plant product that many use to stay functional.
It would remove the ability to regulate quality, age limits, labeling, and contaminant testing, which is exactly what protects public health.
If the Board’s concern is synthetic or highly concentrated products, adulterated extracts, or dangerous novel compounds, then regulate and enforce against those specifically. Target bad actors and unsafe formulations. Do not ban the primary natural alkaloid in the plant and, by extension, ban the entire plant for everyone.
What I support is science based regulation, similar to a Kratom Consumer Protection style framework:
Minimum age requirement
Mandatory lab testing for contaminants and adulterants
Clear labeling of contents and serving information
Limits on certain high risk formulations
Strong enforcement against misbranding and synthetic spiking
That approach protects consumers and gives the Board real tools. Prohibition removes those tools.
Please do not move forward with a rule that bans mitragynine and effectively criminalizes kratom. Keep kratom legal and regulate it responsibly. As a disabled veteran and an educator, I am asking you to choose a path that protects public health without harming the very people who are trying to live stable, productive lives.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Respectfully,
Leonard Ford
100 percent Service Disabled Veteran
Special Education Teacher and Adjunct Professor
Please don’t ban natural kratom. It helps many people in ohio to manage pain and depression and it helps my eating disorder.
Responsible adults should be punished by people that want demonize natural kratom. It does not kill people maybe the people the died had many drugs in there sytem.