Is Kratom Legal in Nevada? (2026 Law and Withdrawn Ban Rule)

Kratom is not listed as a controlled substance in Nevada: the Board of Pharmacy's Schedule I regulation (NAC 453.510, in its August 26, 2026 revision) names no kratom, mitragynine or 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH). Instead, NRS 597.998 regulates sales, banning knowing sales of kratom products to anyone under 18 and adulterated or unlabeled products, with a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each violation. 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 Nevada state law on kratom: the kratom sales statute (NRS 597.998), the Board of Pharmacy's scheduling power and Schedule I list (NRS 453.146, 453.166, 453.2182 and NAC 453.510), the Board's withdrawn 2026 draft regulation (LCB File No. R105-26), the vetoed 2023 bill AB 322, the drug-penalty sections that would apply to a scheduled compound, and the impaired-driving statute, with one paragraph on federal law. It does not cover city or county ordinances, employer or school policies, military rules or other states' laws.

Is kratom legal in Nevada?

Nevada does not list kratom as a controlled substance. Nevada's drug schedules are set by the State Board of Pharmacy by regulation, and the Schedule I list in NAC 453.510, as revised on August 26, 2026, contains no entry for kratom, the plant Mitragyna speciosa, mitragynine, 7-OH or mitragynine pseudoindoxyl. The same list does include psilocybin and psilocin, which is why the two topics are treated so differently in Nevada.

What Nevada does have is a consumer-protection statute aimed at sellers, NRS 597.998, covered in the next section. Two qualifications matter:

• The schedules can change without a new statute. The Board can add a substance by regulation, and in 2026 it drafted (and then withdrew) a rule that would have put kratom alkaloids in Schedule I. This page reflects the official code and the Nevada Register as of October 11, 2026.
• "Not listed" is about kratom itself. A product sold as kratom that contains a substance Nevada does schedule is treated under the rules for that substance, and federal law applies in Nevada too (see the federal section below).

Nevada's kratom sales law (NRS 597.998)

The Legislature added NRS 597.998 in 2019 through Assembly Bill 303 (Statutes of Nevada 2019, chapter 429, approved June 5, 2019, effective October 1, 2019 under the default rule in NRS 218D.330). The section has four rules and a definition.

Sales to minors. Subsection 1 provides:

"A person shall not knowingly sell or offer to sell any material, compound, mixture or preparation containing a kratom product to a child under the age of 18 years."

Adulterated products. Subsection 2 bars anyone from knowingly preparing, distributing, advertising, selling or offering to sell "a kratom product that is adulterated with a substance that affects the quality or strength of the kratom product to such a degree as to render the kratom product injurious to a consumer." A seller has a defense if "he or she can show by a preponderance of evidence that he or she relied in good faith upon the representations of a manufacturer, processor, packer or distributor of the kratom product."

Labels. Under subsection 3, a person may not sell a kratom product without a label that clearly sets forth the product's ingredients, along with the other label content that subsection specifies.

Penalty. Subsection 4 provides that a person who violates any provision of the section "is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each violation." The section creates no crime; it is enforced by civil penalty.

What counts as a kratom product. Subsection 5 defines it as:

"any product or ingredient containing: (a) Any part of the leaf of the Mitragyna Speciosa plant if the plant contains the alkaloid mitragynine or 7-hydroxymitragynine; or (b) A synthetic material that contains the alkaloid mitragynine or 7-hydroxymitragynine, regardless of whether the product or ingredient is labeled or sold for human consumption."

So the sales rules reach leaf products and synthetic mitragynine or 7-OH products alike. The section regulates sellers: it contains no rule against a person under 18 buying or possessing kratom, no 7-OH percentage cap and no product registration requirement.

The 2026 Board of Pharmacy draft rule (withdrawn)

In spring 2026 the Board of Pharmacy started, but did not finish, the process of scheduling kratom. The official Nevada Register lists the proposal as LCB File No. R105-26. Its initial draft, submitted on April 29, 2026 and posted on May 5, 2026, is headed "WORKSHOP April 16, 2026" and describes itself as:

"A REGULATION relating to controlled substances adding mitragynine, hydroxymitragynine and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl to the controlled substances listed in Schedule I"

The draft would have gone further than 7-OH alone. Its proposed new subsection 12 of NAC 453.510 would have listed "any material, compound, mixture or preparation which contains any quantity of kratom," including natural, synthetic or semi-synthetic equivalents of substances in the plant and similar derivatives, naming hydroxymitragynine, mitragynine, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16.

According to the Board's minutes, at the April 16, 2026 workshop the Board voted unanimously "to approve the proposed regulation as presented by Board staff, and to have Board staff capture any of the known Kratom derivatives." That workshop vote did not adopt a regulation.

That draft never became law. The Register's 2026 index lists "R105-26W Pharmacists (453) Withdrawn by agency (6/29/26)." The Register shows no notice of hearing, adopted version, Legislative Commission approval or filing for R105-26, and it states no reason for the withdrawal. The only other 2026 Board of Pharmacy regulation touching Schedule I, LCB File No. R038-26 (adopted June 15, 2026 and approved by the Legislative Commission on July 1, 2026), adds synthetic opioids and contains no kratom or mitragynine text.

Nevada regulations go through a further step before taking effect. At the Legislative Commission's April 28, 2026 meeting, when members of the public objected to the Board's move, Vice Chair Yeager explained:

"We do not have that regulation in front of us today. There is a different Board of Pharmacy regulation in front of us, and that is because the Board of Pharmacy has not formally moved to make it a Schedule 1 substance yet. They have to do an adoption hearing to do that."

The Board could file a new kratom proposal. Any new rule would need a Board adoption hearing and Legislative Commission review before it could take effect, so check the Nevada Register and the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy for current activity.

Who decides whether kratom is scheduled in Nevada?

The Board of Pharmacy. NRS 453.146(1) provides that the Board "may add substances to or delete or reschedule all substances enumerated in schedules I, II, III, IV and V by regulation," and subsection 4 requires the Board to "adopt a regulation controlling the substance if it finds the substance has a potential for abuse." Under NRS 453.166, the Board places a substance in Schedule I if it finds the substance "1. Has high potential for abuse; and 2. Has no accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or lacks accepted safety for use in treatment under medical supervision."

Federal scheduling orders and NRS 453.2182

Nevada also has a federal follow-through rule. NRS 453.2182 provides that when a substance is designated, rescheduled or deleted under federal law, "the Board shall similarly treat the substance" after 60 days from Federal Register publication of a final order "or from the date of issuance of an order of temporary scheduling," "unless within the 60-day period, the Board or an interested party objects to the treatment of the substance." If no one objects, the Board adopts a final regulation without making the usual findings; if someone objects, "action by the Board is stayed until the Board adopts a regulation as provided by subsection 4 of NRS 453.146."

That matters because a federal temporary order placed mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16 in Schedule I effective August 26, 2026. NRS 453.2182 describes a process that ends in a Board regulation, and the Nevada Register through September 30, 2026 lists no regulation adopting that order, so this page does not state that those three compounds are scheduled under Nevada law. NRS 453.2182 runs a temporary order's 60 days "from the date of issuance"; the DEA signed this order on August 24, 2026 and published it, effective, on August 26, 2026, so counted from the August 24 signature the 60-day period ends on or about October 23, 2026 (October 25 if counted from publication). The statute does not add a compound to Nevada's list by itself when that period ends: if no one objects, it directs that "the Board shall adopt ... a final regulation treating the substance." The agenda for the Board's October 14-15, 2026 meeting lists no such item, and the Board's next scheduled meeting is December 2-3, 2026. Nevada's Schedule I (NAC 453.510) names these compounds only once a Board regulation adding them takes effect, so the Nevada Register is the place to look for a filed regulation or a published notice of objection. The federal order does not name mitragynine, 7-OH or kratom leaf.

What penalties apply to kratom in Nevada?

For kratom itself, only the civil penalty in NRS 597.998(4): up to $1,000 for each violation of the sales, adulteration or labeling rules. Kratom is not on Nevada's schedules, so the possession and sale offenses in NRS chapter 453 do not name it.

Nevada's drug-penalty sections attach to substances by schedule, so they would apply to any compound the Board adds. For a Schedule I or II substance, the current sections provide:

Under NRS 193.130, a category C felony carries 1 to 5 years and a fine of up to $10,000; a category D felony 1 to 4 years and a fine of up to $5,000; and a category E felony 1 to 4 years and a fine of up to $5,000. NRS 193.130(2)(e) generally requires a court to suspend a category E sentence and grant probation, but it excepts the possession tier in the table (NRS 453.336(2)(a)), which has its own deferral rule under NRS 176.211. Larger quantities and repeat offenses carry higher categories. These sections do not name kratom or any kratom compound; they apply to a substance Nevada schedules, or to a scheduled substance found in a product.

Separately, NRS 453.219 provides that a "controlled substance analog, to the extent intended for human consumption, must be treated ... as a substance included in schedule I." NRS 453.043 defines an analog as a substance substantially similar in chemical structure to a Schedule I or II substance that has, or is represented or intended to have, a substantially similar effect. This page does not state that any kratom compound meets that definition.

Recent changes and history

Nevada's Legislature meets in odd-numbered years. The 83rd Session adjourned on June 3, 2025, and the 84th Session meets in 2027, so the next regular session that could take up a kratom bill is in 2027. A Board of Pharmacy regulation does not depend on the legislative calendar.

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's July 2026 notice of intent to temporarily schedule 7-OH above a threshold is being withdrawn in a separate document, according to the DEA's October 2026 notice, and in its place 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. 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". Neither notice is an order, and the DEA says neither new order will be issued before 30 days after publication, about November 13, 2026. The August 26, 2026 order stays in effect until it expires (a temporary order expires after two years unless extended by up to one year) 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, and the FDA "has warned consumers not to use kratom because of the risk of serious adverse events, including liver toxicity, seizures, and substance use disorder (SUD)." Our kratom laws by state hub covers the federal layer in more detail.

Driving and criminal records

NRS 484C.110(2) makes it unlawful to drive or be in actual physical control of a vehicle while "under the influence of a controlled substance," under the combined influence of alcohol and a controlled substance, or after a person "inhales, ingests, applies or otherwise uses any chemical, poison or organic solvent, or any compound or combination of any of these, to a degree which renders the person incapable of safely driving or exercising actual physical control of a vehicle." Because kratom is not listed on Nevada's schedules, the first clause does not name it; this page does not address whether the chemical-or-compound clause could apply to a kratom product. NRS 484C.110(3) and (4) also set per se blood or urine limits for a fixed list of drugs (amphetamine, cocaine, heroin and their metabolites, LSD, methamphetamine, phencyclidine and, for certain violations, marijuana); no kratom compound is on that list. For the full statute, see our guide to Nevada DUI laws. A violation of NRS 597.998 is civil, so it does not produce a criminal record; for how Nevada handles criminal records generally, see Nevada expungement laws.

Related

• Kratom laws by state
• Nevada DUI laws
• Nevada expungement laws
• Nevada psilocybin mushroom laws
• Arizona kratom laws
• California kratom laws

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

Last updated: 2026-10-11.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is kratom legal in Nevada?

Kratom is not listed as a controlled substance in Nevada as of October 11, 2026; the Schedule I list in NAC 453.510 has no entry for kratom, mitragynine or 7-OH. NRS 597.998 regulates sales instead, including a ban on knowingly selling kratom products to anyone under 18.

What is the age limit for kratom in Nevada?

NRS 597.998(1) bars knowingly selling or offering to sell a kratom product to a child under the age of 18 years. A violation carries a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each violation.

Did Nevada ban kratom in 2026?

No ban took effect. The Board of Pharmacy drafted a regulation (LCB File No. R105-26) to add kratom alkaloids to Schedule I, headed for an April 16, 2026 workshop, but the Nevada Register lists the draft as withdrawn by the agency on June 29, 2026.

Is 7-OH illegal in Nevada?

Nevada’s Schedule I list (NAC 453.510, revision of August 26, 2026) does not name 7-hydroxymitragynine, and Nevada sets no 7-OH cap. 7-OH products still fall under the NRS 597.998 sale rules, and a 7-OH product that also contains a substance Nevada does schedule is treated under the rules for that substance. Separately, NRS 453.219 treats a controlled substance analog intended for human consumption as a Schedule I substance; this page does not state that 7-OH meets that definition.

What is the penalty for selling kratom to a minor in Nevada?

NRS 597.998(4) makes a seller who violates the section subject to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each violation. The section does not create a criminal offense.

Does the federal kratom order apply in Nevada?

The DEA temporary order effective August 26, 2026 makes mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16 Schedule I under federal law, which applies in Nevada. Under NRS 453.2182, if no one objects within a 60-day period that runs from the order's August 24, 2026 issuance and ends on or about October 23 to 25, 2026, the Board is directed to adopt a final regulation treating them; Nevada’s own Schedule I names them only once that regulation takes effect.