Is Kratom Legal in Michigan? (2026 Law and Pending Ban Bill)

Kratom is not listed as a controlled substance in Michigan. None of the state's five controlled-substance schedules in the Public Health Code (MCL 333.7212 through 333.7220) lists kratom, mitragynine or 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), and no Michigan statute sets a kratom age limit or sales rules; House Bill 5537, which would ban growing, selling and distributing kratom, passed the House in March 2026 and is waiting in a Senate committee. For other states, see our guide to kratom laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-11. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Michigan state law on kratom: the controlled-substance schedules in Article 7 of the Public Health Code (MCL 333.7212 through 333.7220), the Board of Pharmacy's scheduling power (MCL 333.7201), the federal-adoption rule in MCL 333.7204 as amended by 2026 PA 48, the drug-penalty sections that would apply to a scheduled compound, the operating-while-intoxicated statute, and two pending bills (House Bills 5537 and 4969), with one paragraph on federal law. It also notes the Board's scheduling rule (R 338.3111). It does not cover city or county ordinances, employer or school policies, military rules or other states' laws.

Is kratom legal in Michigan?

Michigan law does not control kratom today. Michigan's controlled substances are listed by statute in five schedules: MCL 333.7212 (schedule 1), 333.7214 (schedule 2), 333.7216 (schedule 3), 333.7218 (schedule 4) and 333.7220 (schedule 5). None of those sections contains an entry for kratom, the plant Mitragyna speciosa, mitragynine or 7-OH.

Because kratom is not a scheduled substance, the schedule-based drug offenses in Article 7 of the Public Health Code do not reach it by name. Michigan also has no statute regulating kratom as a consumer product: there is no state age limit, labeling rule or vendor-registration program in force. Cities and townships may adopt their own kratom rules, including sales restrictions, so check the local ordinances where you live or do business; state law still applies alongside them.

That answer can change in three ways, each covered below: the Legislature could enact a bill (two are pending and they point in opposite directions), the Board of Pharmacy could add a compound to the schedules by rule, or a federal scheduling action could carry into Michigan's schedules under MCL 333.7204.

Who can add kratom to Michigan's drug schedules?

Michigan's schedules are written into statute, but the Legislature has given the Board of Pharmacy, acting as the "administrator," power to change them. MCL 333.7201 provides:

"The administrator shall administer this article and may add substances to, or delete or reschedule all substances enumerated in the schedules in sections 7212, 7214, 7216, 7218, and 7220 in compliance with the administrative procedures act of 1969."

So a kratom compound could become controlled in Michigan through rulemaking, without a new statute. The Board has used that power: its rule R 338.3111 adopts the federal controlled-substance schedules (21 CFR 1308.11 to 1308.15) by reference and adds a short state list. The current version of the rule, effective May 28, 2024, does not list kratom, mitragynine or 7-OH, and under Michigan's Administrative Procedures Act (MCL 24.232(4)) an adoption by reference does not cover later federal changes unless the Board amends the rule or promulgates a new one.

The federal-adoption rule (2026 PA 48)

The Legislature amended MCL 333.7204 in 2026 PA 48 (Senate Bill 716), which the Governor approved on July 21, 2026 and which took effect on July 23, 2026. The amended section reads:

"If a substance is designated, rescheduled, or deleted as a controlled substance under federal law and notice of that designation, rescheduling, or deletion is given to the administrator, the substance must be similarly scheduled under section 7201 unless the administrator holds a board meeting not more than 60 days after notice is received to determine whether the substance should be similarly controlled under section 7201. If the administrator decides not to similarly schedule the substance, the administrator shall, not more than 60 days after that decision is made, publish the reasons for that determination."

The section works through a process rather than on its own. It turns on notice of the federal action being given to the administrator, and it gives the Board a 60-day window to meet and decide otherwise. That matters for kratom because a federal temporary order took effect on August 26, 2026 (described in the federal section below). No published Board action cited on this page shows whether notice of that order was given or whether the Board met, so this page does not state that the three compounds in the federal order are scheduled under Michigan law. Amending R 338.3111 is one way the Board could carry a new federal listing into Michigan's schedules.

House Bill 5537: a proposed kratom ban (passed the House, not law)

House Bill 5537, sponsored by Representative Cavitt, was introduced on February 19, 2026. According to the Legislature's bill page, on March 18, 2026 the House discharged it from the Committee on Regulatory Reform, adopted substitute H-1 and passed it on Roll Call 100, 56 yeas to 48 nays. On March 24, 2026 the Senate referred it to its Committee on Government Operations. The bill page shows no later action as of October 11, 2026.

As passed by the House, the bill would add section 473a to the Michigan Penal Code (proposed MCL 750.473a):

"(1) A person shall not grow, synthesize, sell, offer to sell, give, import, or distribute kratom or a synthetic variant of kratom. A person that violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor as follows: (a) ... imprisonment for not more than 90 days, a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both."

The passed text raises the maximums to 180 days, a $10,000 fine or both for a violation after a prior conviction; up to 1 year, a $10,000 fine or both when the violation involves selling, offering to sell, giving or distributing to an individual under 18; and up to 1 year, a $20,000 fine or both for a repeat under-18 violation. It exempts kratom approved by the FDA as a drug product, dietary supplement or food additive, but that exception does not apply to a synthetic variant. It defines both covered products broadly:

"(a) 'Kratom' means a product containing any part of the plant Mitragyna speciose, whether growing or not; the leaves of that plant; any extract or resin from any part of that plant; and every compound, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of that plant or its leaves, seeds, or extracts. (b) 'Synthetic variant of kratom' means any synthetic form of kratom, including, but not limited to, 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH)."

(The bill text spells the species "speciose.") Three points about the bill as passed:

• It reaches the leaf, not only 7-OH. The definition of kratom covers any part of the plant, its leaves, extracts and every derivative or preparation, so the ban would apply to plain leaf products as well as concentrated or synthetic 7-OH.
• Possession is not on the offense list. Subsection (1) lists growing, synthesizing, selling, offering to sell, giving, importing and distributing.
• It would not take effect right away. The enacting section provides that the act "takes effect 90 days after the date it is enacted into law."

Until the bill is enacted, none of this is law.

House Bill 4969: a proposed kratom product-standards law (in committee)

House Bill 4969, also sponsored by Representative Cavitt, was introduced on September 17, 2025. Its official title describes the "regulation of distribution, sale, and manufacturing of kratom products" in a new act. The House Committee on Regulatory Reform reported it with substitute H-2 on November 13, 2025, and it went to second reading, but on June 10, 2026 it was re-referred to that committee. The bill page shows no later action.

Substitute H-2, the version the committee reported, would create the "kratom consumer protection act." It sets product and labeling standards rather than a ban:

• Labels. A seller would have to label each kratom product with, among other items, "a statement against the use of the kratom product by individuals who are under 21 years, who are pregnant, or who are breastfeeding," "a statement that kratom may be habit forming," and the amounts of mitragynine and 7-OH the product contains.
• 7-OH cap. No one could make or sell "a kratom product that contains a level of 7-hydroxymitragynine in the alkaloid fraction that is greater than 2% of the alkaloid composition of the kratom product."
• Synthesized alkaloids. Products containing "a synthesized material, such as an alkaloid, metabolite, or alkaloid derivative that is created by chemical synthesis or biosynthetic means" would also be barred, as would products that do not state their mitragynine and 7-OH content.
• Testing. A manufacturer or processor would have to have each product tested by an ISO/IEC 17025-accredited independent laboratory before sale and keep the certificate of analysis for 10 years.
• Fines. A violator "may be ordered to pay a civil fine of not more than $1,000.00 for the first offense and not more than $5,000.00 for a second or subsequent offense."

The substitute dropped the licensing requirement, the January 1, 2027 start date and the under-21 sales ban that were in the bill as introduced.

House Bills 4969 and 5537 conflict: one would set product and labeling standards for kratom sales, the other would prohibit them. Either, both or neither could move further in the Legislature.

What penalties apply to kratom in Michigan?

Under current Michigan law, none specific to kratom. Kratom is not a scheduled substance, so the schedule-based possession and delivery offenses do not reach it by name. Article 7 separately covers a "controlled substance analogue" (MCL 333.7104(4), 333.7402, 333.7403), defined as a substance substantially similar in structure to a schedule 1 or 2 drug with a substantially similar or greater narcotic or depressant effect. No statute or rule names kratom or 7-OH as an analogue, but the definition could be argued to reach a semi-synthetic 7-OH derivative.

Michigan's penalty sections attach to substances by schedule rather than by name, so if a kratom compound were ever added to a Michigan schedule (by Board rule or through MCL 333.7204), the general penalties would follow. For example, possession of a schedule 1 through 4 substance not covered by a more specific tier is a felony under MCL 333.7403(2)(b)(ii) "punishable by imprisonment for not more than 2 years or a fine of not more than $2,000.00, or both," and manufacturing or delivering, or possessing with intent to deliver, "any other controlled substance classified in schedule 1, 2, or 3" is a felony under MCL 333.7401(2)(b)(ii) punishable by up to 7 years or a $10,000 fine, or both. These ranges describe how the statute works for scheduled substances. MCL 333.7403(2)(b)(ii) sets the same range for possessing a controlled substance analogue, and MCL 333.7402(2)(e) makes manufacturing or delivering one a felony punishable by up to 15 years or a $250,000 fine, or both; no statute or rule names a kratom compound as an analogue, so those provisions would reach a kratom product only if it met the analogue definition.

If House Bill 5537 were enacted, its violations would be misdemeanors under the Penal Code, starting at up to 90 days in jail, a $5,000 fine or both for a first offense.

Federal kratom law

Kratom leaf, mitragynine and 7-OH are not listed in the federal schedules in the October 6, 2026 version of 21 CFR 1308. A DEA temporary order placed mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16 in federal Schedule I effective August 26, 2026. The DEA filed a new notice of intent (FR Doc. 2026-20943, filed for public inspection on October 9, 2026 and scheduled for publication on October 14, 2026) to temporarily place 7-OH and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl in Schedule I when either one, or both combined, is above a threshold: more than 1 mg per gram in solid forms or more than 1 mg per milliliter in liquids, or a ratio of mitragynine to those compounds of less than 100. That notice states that the DEA's July 2026 notice of intent to temporarily schedule 7-OH above a threshold is being withdrawn in a separate document. A second DEA notice of intent filed the same day (FR Doc. 2026-20942) proposes a new temporary order that would keep MGM-15 and MGM-16 in Schedule I "without change," to distinguish them from mitragynine pseudoindoxyl. Neither notice is an order, and the DEA says neither new temporary order will be issued before 30 days after publication, about November 13, 2026. The August 26, 2026 order stays in effect until it expires or is replaced by the new temporary orders, whichever comes first. The FDA's position is that kratom is not lawfully marketed in the U.S. as a drug product, a dietary supplement or a food additive in conventional food. Our kratom laws by state hub covers the federal layer in more detail.

Driving and criminal records

Michigan's operating-while-intoxicated statute, MCL 257.625(1)(a), prohibits driving while "under the influence of alcoholic liquor, a controlled substance, or other intoxicating substance"; the "other intoxicating substance" clause is not limited to scheduled drugs; see our guide to Michigan DUI laws. Because kratom is not a scheduled substance in Michigan, no Michigan statute makes kratom itself a drug offense; for how Michigan sets aside convictions generally, see Michigan expungement laws.

Related

• Kratom laws by state
• Michigan DUI laws
• Michigan expungement laws
• Michigan psilocybin mushroom laws
• Ohio kratom laws

This article provides general legal information about Michigan state law as of October 11, 2026. It is not legal advice. Pending bills, Board of Pharmacy rules and federal scheduling actions can change the rules quickly. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Michigan or the Michigan Board of Pharmacy.

Last updated: 2026-10-11.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is kratom legal in Michigan?

Kratom is not listed in any of Michigan's controlled-substance schedules (MCL 333.7212 through 333.7220), and no Michigan statute bans or regulates its sale. House Bill 5537, which would ban growing, selling and distributing it, passed the House on March 18, 2026 but is not law.

Is 7-OH illegal in Michigan?

7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) is not named in Michigan's statutory schedules. House Bill 5537 would cover 7-OH as a synthetic variant of kratom, and House Bill 4969 (substitute H-2) would bar products with 7-OH above 2% of the alkaloid composition, but neither bill has been enacted. Michigan's controlled substance analogue provisions (MCL 333.7104(4), 333.7402, 333.7403) do not name 7-OH, but they could be argued to reach a semi-synthetic 7-OH derivative.

What is the age limit for kratom in Michigan?

Michigan has no statutory age limit for kratom. The current version of House Bill 4969 would require labels to carry a statement against use by individuals under 21 but would not itself bar sales to them, and it is a pending bill. Cities and townships may set their own kratom rules, so check the local ordinances where you live; state law still applies there too.

Did Michigan ban kratom in 2026?

No. House Bill 5537 passed the Michigan House 56-48 on March 18, 2026 and was referred to the Senate Committee on Government Operations on March 24, 2026. The bill page shows no later action as of October 11, 2026, and as passed it would take effect 90 days after enactment.

Would House Bill 5537 make it illegal to possess kratom in Michigan?

The House-passed text of proposed MCL 750.473a lists growing, synthesizing, selling, offering to sell, giving, importing and distributing kratom. Possession is not on that list.

Does the federal ban on kratom compounds apply in Michigan?

The DEA temporary order effective August 26, 2026 makes mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16 Schedule I under federal law, which applies in Michigan. Whether Michigan's own schedules pick up those compounds depends on the notice-and-board-meeting process in MCL 333.7204.