Synthetic Kratom on the Shelf: What Is Schedule I, What Is Pending, and How a Shop Checks

Rebel X Brands, for licensed retailers and distributors.
Published 7 October 2026.

DEA's own scheduling order says where these products sell: "As of early 2026, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15 products are sold in smoke shops, gas stations, and through numerous online marketplaces, often positioned alongside dietary supplements". That is your channel.

Since 26 August 2026, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI), MGM-15 and MGM-16 have been temporarily in federal Schedule I; New Jersey's attorney general called them "Three Types of Synthetic Kratom". A separate DEA proposal on a concentrated minor kratom alkaloid was still only a proposal on 7 October 2026.

What became Schedule I on 26 August 2026

DEA's order calls all three "synthetic derivatives" of the plant's alkaloids, "produced through synthetic modifications of purified mitragynine isolates or 7-hydroxymitragynine", and calls MGPI and MGM-15 "semisynthetic opioids". The Justice Department calls MGM-15 and MGM-16 "synthetic compounds", and says MGM-16 "has not been confirmed in the consumer market".

Two federal sources need reading together. FDA's "Hiding in Plain Sight" page (current as of 13 July 2026) calls the three "not naturally occurring in the kratom plant"; DOJ's later release says "scientific and analytical questions remain about whether MGPI may be reported at incidental trace levels in some botanical products as a result of processing, storage or analytical conditions". Our advice: do not assume a botanical product cannot show MGPI on a test.

Under the Controlled Substances Act, Schedule I means, among other findings, "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States" (21 U.S.C. 812(b)(1)). 21 U.S.C. 841(a) makes it unlawful "for any person knowingly or intentionally" to "manufacture, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, a controlled substance"; section 844(a) covers plain possession. For Schedule I, section 841(b)(1)(C) sets "not more than 20 years" in the basic case and up to life if "death or serious bodily injury results": ceilings, not forecasts. What "knowingly or intentionally" means for a shop that did not know is counsel question 2.

DEA's temporary scheduling order, 91 FR 54948, applies Schedule I controls to anyone who handles the three, a list that ends "or possess". The two sentences a shop needs:

DEA order, 91 FR 54948. "Retail sales of schedule I controlled substances to the general public are not allowed under the CSA. Possession of any quantity of mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, or MGM-16 in a manner not authorized by the CSA on or after August 26, 2026 is unlawful, and those in possession of any quantity of mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16 may be subject to prosecution pursuant to the CSA."

"Any quantity", twice. Not large amounts. And a DEA registration is no route back to the counter, because the retail sentence stands either way.

The surrender sentence comes with no procedure

Item 2 of the order, "Disposal of stocks", says anyone who does not obtain a Schedule I registration "must surrender all currently held quantities of this substance." It does not say to whom, where, how or by when, and nothing else in the order describes a procedure; nor did DOJ's release, New Jersey's announcement or the Florida materials we read. We are not going to guess. It is question 1 for counsel.

The 30-day windows are for DEA registrants

"Current DEA registrants" get 30 calendar days from 26 August 2026 for labeling, packaging, inventory and recordkeeping; reports and order forms are for "All DEA registrants". None of it is a sell-through or grace period for an unregistered shop. Nor does temporary mean short: the order runs "until August 26, 2028", with "a possible extension of one year", and DEA will publish a document if it is "extended or made permanent".

The trace statement is in a DOJ press release, not in the order

On 25 August 2026 the Justice Department announced the scheduling in press release 26-971. This is where the trace sentence lives:

DOJ press release 26-971. "In light of these unresolved questions, the Department of Justice will exercise enforcement discretion when only incidental trace amounts of MGPI are confirmed in a product otherwise consistent with botanical kratom. This policy does not create a legal exemption and does not change MGPI's status as a schedule I controlled substance." The next paragraph sets its edges: "This enforcement policy does not apply to MGM-15 or MGM-16, or products containing manufactured, concentrated, fortified or intentionally added MGPI." So: only MGPI, only "incidental trace amounts", only when "confirmed", and only in "a product otherwise consistent with botanical kratom".

The order's full text contains none of "enforcement discretion", "trace", "incidental" or "botanical kratom", and the release links no separate written policy. New Jersey's announcement is silent on trace amounts. Our advice: make no shelf decision on the trace statement without counsel.

The lawsuit over trace MGPI is open

The American Kratom Association, an industry body, has sued DEA and DOJ, asking the court to confirm that trace MGPI in botanical kratom is not reached by the order. The docket (a CourtListener RECAP copy, not PACER) shows No. 1:26-cv-02997, District of Columbia, filed Aug. 26, 2026. On 27 August an emergency motion for an expedited status conference was denied "without prejudice". On 18 September the court recorded that the defendants "anticipate that the parties may be able to resolve this suit without further need for litigation." A further extension entry is dated 2 October, and there was no ruling as of 7 October 2026.

What is only proposed: a threshold for the concentrated minor alkaloid

DEA's notice of intent of 6 July 2026 (91 FR 40917, FR Doc 2026-13580) would temporarily schedule a minor kratom alkaloid above a line. For botanical material, the line is "more than 0.050 percentage of 7-hydroxymitragynine on a dry weight basis". For extracts, concentrates, processed edibles and pressed pills, it is "greater than 0.050 percentage by weight/weight, weight/volume, or volume/volume, or greater than 1.00 milligram of 7-hydroxymitragynine in the article."

Two tests joined by "or". A product with a low percentage can still cross a per-article milligram line, so quoting the percentage alone misstates the proposal.

Status, searched 7 October 2026: the notice said the order "will be published in the Federal Register on or after August 5, 2026", and that date passed without one. The Federal Register's public developer interface showed five documents since 1 June matching the alkaloid's chemical name, the newest being the 26 August order; nothing on "kratom" or "mitragynine" since 27 August; and nothing on kratom on public inspection for 8 October. Proposed. Pending. Not law. Our advice: call it proposed until an order appears in the Register.

Rebel X sold Tier Seven, a concentrated minor-alkaloid tablet line, until we removed it from our catalog on 30 July 2026. Pressed pills are one of the forms this proposal names. A brief that asks you to check other people's shelves should say what was on ours.

Florida, Missouri and New Jersey: state rules and enforcement

Florida: three numbers and a detection-limit line

The attorney general's emergency rule 2ER26-2, effective 18 August 2026, puts 7-acetoxymitragynine, MGM-15 and MGM-16 in Florida's Schedule I and sets three tests for the minor alkaloid:

Florida rule 2ER26-2. "(3) No product shall have an amount of 7-hydroxymitragynine greater than: (a) 1 milligram per gram (mg/g) for solid or powdered products, including encapsulated materials; or (b) 1 milligram per milliliter (mg/mL) for liquid products, including beverages, extracts, and tinctures; and (4) Any product containing 7-hydroxymitragynine must have at least 100 parts mitragynine for every one part of 7-hydroxymitragynine by mass." The cap and the ratio must both be met. Those are concentrations; the federal proposal adds a per-article milligram line and no ratio, so a product can pass Florida and still cross the proposed federal line.

The agriculture department's label rule, 5KER26-11, effective 24 August 2026, requires the concentration and an alkaloid ratio on the label, as in its own example "Alkaloid Ratio 500 mg:1 mg". Its detection-limit line reads:

Florida rule 5KER26-11 (2). "If the concentration(s) required in subsection (1) is/are below the method detection limit, the method detection limit shall be used as the stated concentration so long as the limit of quantitation or practical quantitation limit is below 1 mg/g or 1 mg/mL, for solids or liquids, respectively." So a Florida label number can be a detection limit, not a detection.

Florida enforces. The attorney general's release of 18 September 2025 counted "17,895 seizures of packages" since the 2025 predecessor rule was filed on 13 August 2025.

Missouri: the attorney general's message to retailers

The attorney general's 7 April 2026 release widened a statewide investigation to "10 additional entities across the supply chain including manufacturers, distributors, and retailers", 22 in all: "Our message to retailers: remove dangerous kratom alkaloid products from shelves immediately." A 10 June 2026 release reported a distributor's agreement "to not sell, ship, deliver or facilitate the sale of" a list including MGM-15, mitragynine and MGPI "at any retail store in the State of Missouri", backed by "an agreed $5 million penalty" that the attorney general "may invoke" if a breach is not immediately remedied. It adds that neither that agreement nor a related settlement "constitutes an admission of liability, and no court found any defendant liable in either action."

New Jersey: automatic, and silent on trace

The three became controlled in New Jersey on 25 September 2026, automatically, because the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs did not object to the federal scheduling. The attorney general's warning: "Any individual or business found violating this ban could face criminal charges." The announcement is silent on trace amounts, surrender and sell-through. Our New Jersey shelf audit covers that state in detail.

A federal seizure, and a figure that is news only

On 2 December 2025, DOJ press release 25-1129 announced "the seizure of approximately 73,000 units of product at three warehouses". In seizure complaints in the Western District of Missouri, the government alleged that two Kansas City-area firms warned by FDA "continued to distribute unlawful 7-OH products after receiving the warnings." That was food and drug law, before any federal scheduling, carried out by U.S. Marshals with FDA support, not by DEA.

News, not a record: on 29 August 2026 KCUR, republishing the Missouri Independent, reported that a Kansas City kratom company "says it destroyed $10 million worth of product", a figure its owner put "at cost, not at retail value," after "learning the federal order was coming". That is the company's claim. We found no DEA or DOJ release about it.

How a shop checks: panels, limits, the ratio and the label

A certificate only answers the questions it asks, and a standard alkaloid panel does not ask about these three. Our advice: get the lot's certificate before a product goes on your shelf, and run four checks.

1. Find the derivative panel, under any of its names

DEA's MGM-16 entry allows either numbering, "depending on numbering convention", so 9-fluoro and 10-fluoro rows can name the same compound. Where a row is missing, the certificate cannot speak to that compound.

2. Read the limit beside every ND

Each row gives a result, a unit, a limit of quantitation (LOQ) and a method detection limit (MDL). "ND" means not detected at that limit, and a method with a higher MDL can print ND for a level a more sensitive one would report.

Our worked example is GRH Red Maeng Da, lot 51226, from our lab results page: Cora Science, report dated 28 August 2026, described as "Finely ground plant material". Its derivative panel, method T191, prints ND for MGPI, MGM-15 and MGM-16, each with an LOQ of 1.90 ug/g and an MDL of 1.14 ug/g. That means not detected in that sample at that limit. Not zero, and nothing about any other lot.

Its footer reads: "Some test methods reported may fall outside the scope of L22-250 supplement." Our advice: ask whether the derivative method is on the lab's accreditation scope. And this is one of only 2 of our 18 certificates that carry the panel at all; the other 16 cannot speak to these compounds either way.

The other one is King K Platinum Liquid Kratom Extract, lot 12242 (Cora Science, report dated 20 August 2026). Its "Mitragynine Pseudoindoxyl" row reports 2.59 ug/g, above that method's LOQ of 1.53 ug/g and MDL of 0.77 ug/g; its MGM-15 and MGM-16 rows read ND. The certificate predates the scheduling by six days, and the product was on sale on rebelxbrands.com on 7 October 2026. A method with a detection limit above 2.59 ug/g would have printed ND for the same sample. [Kemal and counsel: what we are doing about this lot goes here.]

3. Check the concentration and the ratio

The Red Maeng Da lot's Florida panel is headed with the current rules, "2ER26-2 / 5KER26-11". Mitragynine reads 11.4 mg/g and the minor alkaloid's label concentration 0.0275 mg/g, against a limit of "NMT 1.00". The ratio row reads "414.5:1" and "PASS", which is 11.4 divided by 0.0275. The declaration row reads "1293:3 mg:mg", per package, rounded to whole numbers as Florida's label rule requires.

4. Read the label the way DEA does

DEA's order flags packaging advertised as "strictly for laboratory, botanical, and research purposes only" and "not intended for human consumption", "research chemical" labeling it calls "a common tactic to bypass regulatory oversight", and products sold as "clean and powerful", "potent" and "fast-acting". Missouri's health department warns of products "falsely marketed" as natural kratom. Florida's label rule names the alkaloid as "7-Hydroxymitragynine", "7-OH" or "7-Hydroxy".

A clean label is not proof. A company's recall announcement, posted by FDA in May 2026, says FDA analysis found its products "to contain undeclared Mitragynine and Mitragynine Pseudoindoxyl." Our advice: when a counter product says "research" or "not intended for human consumption", treat it as a warning sign and pull the certificate first.

Scheduled, proposed or state-only: the status on 7 October 2026

Questions for counsel

Our advice: take these to a lawyer before doing anything with affected stock.

1. The order says "must surrender all currently held quantities". To whom, how and by when, and does contacting DEA or police to surrender create exposure of its own?
2. Does "knowingly or intentionally" protect a shop that did not know a product contained MGPI, MGM-15 or MGM-16, and what changes once a certificate or supplier tells it?
3. Does DOJ's trace discretion reach a specific extract, shot or tablet? Can a shop rely on a policy that "does not create a legal exemption", and does it bind state prosecutors?
4. Stock whose certificate predates 26 August 2026 or has no derivative panel: quarantine, retest, return or surrender? Is a return to the supplier a "distribution"?
5. After a trace-level positive, what records should the shop keep, and must it report?
6. What do New Jersey, Florida and Missouri add, and which law governs product in transit?
7. If the threshold order publishes, what is "the article" for a multi-unit pack, and what about certificates whose LOQ is above 1.00 mg per unit?
8. Can supplier contracts require lot-specific derivative panels, indemnity or cost recovery?
9. Does the shop's insurance exclude controlled substances or this category?
10. What can staff say to a customer asking for a scheduled product or a substitute?

Our advice, in the order we would do it

Our advice, step by step; none of it is legal advice or a substitute for counsel.

1. Pull the certificate for every kratom extract, shot and tablet you stock, lot by lot.
2. Mark which carry rows for all three compounds. No rows, no answer.
3. Read the MDL beside every ND.
4. If a certificate, a label or a supplier says MGPI, MGM-15 or MGM-16 is present, stop selling that product and call counsel before you move it anywhere, back to the supplier included.
5. Ask every supplier, us included, for lot-specific derivative panels.
6. In Florida, check each label for a declared concentration and ratio.
7. Before believing the threshold is law, look for the order in the Federal Register.

If we supplied a lot, our contact page is where to ask for its certificate and whether it carries the derivative panel; for 16 of the 18 on our lab results page it does not. If you are weighing us as a supplier, our wholesale application starts that conversation, and the questions above apply to us too.

Synthetic kratom on the shelf: FAQ

Can a shop sell mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 or MGM-16?

Not under federal law. All three have been temporarily in Schedule I since 26 August 2026, and DEA's order says "Retail sales of schedule I controlled substances to the general public are not allowed under the CSA." New Jersey followed on 25 September 2026.

Does the trace-amount policy protect a shop?

It is in a DOJ press release, not in the order. It covers only confirmed incidental trace MGPI in a product otherwise consistent with botanical kratom, never MGM-15 or MGM-16, and "does not create a legal exemption". Whether it reaches your product is for counsel.

Is the threshold for the concentrated minor alkaloid law yet?

No. DEA's notice of 6 July 2026 proposes a line of more than 0.050 percent and, for extracts and pressed pills, a second test of more than 1.00 milligram in the article. A Federal Register search on 7 October 2026 found no order published and none on public inspection.

What should a shop look for on a certificate?

Rows for all three compounds, under any of their names, with the LOQ and MDL beside each result. ND means not detected at that method's limit, not zero. A panel without those rows cannot show whether the compounds are present or absent.

What does the order say to do with stock a shop already holds?

Anyone without a Schedule I registration "must surrender all currently held quantities", with no procedure, recipient or deadline given. Its 30-day windows apply only to DEA registrants. How to surrender is the first question for counsel.

Disclaimer: this article summarizes federal, state and court records, FDA pages, news labeled as news, and certificates on our own lab results page, as read on 7 October 2026. It is general business information, not legal or medical advice, and no substitute for counsel or a clinician. "Our advice" lines are suggested practice, not statements of the law. Statements about botanical products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and no product is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.