DeWine wants natural and synthetic kratom compounds classified as illegal drugs

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine wants the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to designate kratom compounds, including natural and synthetic iterations, as illegal drugs.

Kratom is a plant that is native to Southeast Asia and has gained popularity in the United States in recent years. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved its use for medical purposes or consumption.

Despite the lack of approval, retailers often sell kratom as powders, gummies, and drinks. Proponents contend it helps treat various disorders, including chronic pain, opioid dependence, and anxiety.

“These modified kratom products, sold online and in stores, are essentially legal, over-the-counter opiates that anyone – including kids – can buy with just a few bucks,” DeWine said in a release. “There is no accepted medical use for kratom in Ohio, and it is an imminent public health risk. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy should act with urgency to schedule all kratom compounds and future alterations of them as Schedule I illegal drugs.”

As its popularity has surged, “clandestine chemists,” as DeWine dubbed them, have altered kratom’s natural chemical compounds, making a potent, synthetic chemical that is highly addictive and produces opioid-like effects. The governor said that sellers often target younger buyers based on the packaging used for many synthetic kratom products.

According to preliminary Ohio Department of Health data, kratom caused more than 200 accidental overdose deaths in the Buckeye State from 2019 to 2024.

“When I found out today, I was very emotional, because I wish this had came at a lot sooner time than this, and I feel it would have saved me a lot of hurt and my family a lot of hurt,” Jennifer Young, whose son died from a combination of drugs, including kratom, told WSYX-TV/ABC6 On Your Side.

According to a release from DeWine’s office, during the first seven months of 2025, poison control centers nationally received 1,690 reports of exposure cases involving kratom, more than the number received in all of 2024.

The FDA recently made a recommendation that the 7-hydroxymitragynine kratom compound be classified as an illegal drug. Now, DeWine wants Ohio to be the first state to classify all kratom compounds as a Schedule I drug.

Should the Ohio Board of Pharmacy proceed, Ohio retailers selling kratom would be required to remove the items from their shelves. However, not everyone backed DeWine’s proposal.

“I got in an accident, broke my neck, was put on opiates, pain pills… they said I’ll be on these the rest of my life,” Jack Smith, owner of Life of Kratom in Columbus, told WBNS-TV.

Smith, a former racecar driver, told the television station that a natural version of kratom helped him stop using prescription opioids after a “serious accident.” He told the outlet that he only uses and sells kratom in its natural powder form.

“It’s the synthetic part, these opioids that they’re literally making synthetically, that’s causing this problem. It’s not the powder itself,” Smith told the television station. “This is what’s hurting kratom.”

Mac Haddow, a senior fellow on public policy with the American Kratom Association, told WSYX-TV that DeWine should reconsider his request and ask that the Ohio Board of Pharmacy only prohibit synthetic kratom, not natural kratom.

“I use kratom every day, and I’ve done so for the last eight years,” Haddow, who deals with arthritis, told the television station. “It’s been a tremendous benefit to me to help me walk more comfortably.”

“Most people use kratom as an energy boost, and it increases focus. Some use it to increase their well-being and feelings of well-being and mood, but this idea that it should be a banned substance simply doesn’t match the science.” Haddow added.