Saratoga County has a kratom ban on the table.
Introductory No. 6, Print No. 1 of 2026, "A Local Law to Prohibit the Sale and Distribution of Kratom Products Within the County of Saratoga," would prohibit selling or distributing any kratom product in the county, natural leaf and powder included. The Public Safety Committee took it up on September 1, 2026 and approved it, which the county announced on September 4. The full Board of Supervisors introduced it on September 15, 2026 and holds a public hearing on it on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. It has not been adopted. Everything below is read out of the filed text and cites the section it comes from.
Last updated October 7, 2026. Provisions come from the county's own committee packet for the September 1 meeting; the hearing details come from the Clerk of the Board's notice for October 14.
What the filed version would do.
Everything in this list is drawn from the text attached to the September 1, 2026 Public Safety Committee agenda, and each line names the section it comes from. That matters here for two reasons. The first is that an announcement and a filed bill have already diverged once this summer: in Dutchess County the ban announced on July 30 was never taken up, and the bill the Legislature filed and passed was its own 7-OH concentration limit that left plain leaf alone. The second is that this county's own agenda is inconsistent with itself. The agenda index calls it a law about "certain kratom products," while the draft resolution and the local law are both titled without that word. The filed text is the version that governs, and it is not narrow.
- Section 4(A) would prohibit any person from selling, offering for sale, distributing, furnishing, supplying, or otherwise commercially providing any kratom product within Saratoga County.
- Section 3(A) defines "kratom" as any product derived from or containing material from the Mitragyna speciosa plant, naming leaves, powders, extracts, concentrates, resins, capsules, tablets, liquids and beverages.
- Section 3(B) defines a "kratom product" as anything containing kratom, mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, or any other naturally occurring kratom alkaloid, sold on its own or built into another product.
- Section 4(E) is headed "No Exception for Natural Kratom Leaf Products" and states the prohibitions apply to natural leaf and to natural leaf in powder form, and to leaf that has been dried, ground, milled, powdered or encapsulated. Physical preparation does not change whether the law reaches it.
- Section 4(F) carries the only exception: a product that receives FDA approval AFTER the law takes effect. No kratom product holds FDA approval today, so as filed the exception covers nothing currently on any shelf.
- Section 4(D) leaves personal possession alone. The law reaches commercial sale and distribution, not an individual possessing kratom for personal use.
- Section 3(E) defines "distribute" broadly, as to furnish, supply, provide, transfer, deliver, or otherwise make available a kratom product to another person, whether or not consideration is received.
- Section 6 makes a violation an unclassified misdemeanor carrying up to a $1,000 fine, up to one year, or both, with an additional fine of up to $1,500 for a repeat violation within five years. Each sale is a separate violation, and each day of a continuing violation may be a separate violation.
- Section 5 assigns enforcement to the Saratoga County Department of Health, the Sheriff's Office, and other county officers or agencies, and lets the county seek injunctive relief.
- Section 9 would take effect immediately on filing with the Secretary of State. Section 10 then gives businesses holding inventory thirty days to clear it.
- Section 7 preserves New York's statewide rules on sales to people under twenty-one; the local law does not reduce or supersede them.
Set against the law we said to copy.
This store said publicly that Dutchess County drew the right line. Here are the two filed texts next to each other rather than our word for it.
What it reaches
Dutchess Resolution 2026136 restricts products above 2 percent 7-hydroxymitragynine of total alkaloids or 1 mg per serving, which reaches concentrates and leaves plain leaf alone. Saratoga Introductory No. 6 Section 4(E) reaches natural leaf and powder by name.
The exception
Dutchess exempts prescription and FDA-approved products. Saratoga Section 4(F) exempts only a product approved by the FDA after the law takes effect, which describes nothing that exists now.
What happens to the plant
Under the Dutchess line, a lab-tested leaf powder with no added 7-OH is untouched. Under the Saratoga text as filed, the same pouch is prohibited, and Section 4(E) says grinding or encapsulating it changes nothing.
If the state acts
Dutchess wrote itself to become void if a state law covering the same ground takes effect. Introductory No. 6 as filed has no equivalent sunset tied to the pending state 7-OH cap, S8925A.
Both are county measures written weeks apart in the same state, against the same federal backdrop. The difference is where each one drew its line.
Nothing changes today
We ship to Saratoga County addresses now and will keep doing so unless a ban is adopted and takes effect. We follow the law in every state and locality we ship to, so if this is adopted we would stop, the same as we already do for Nassau, Washington, Oneida and Albany counties, and as we will for Rensselaer County once its signed ban is filed and takes effect.
If it is adopted, we email customers rather than let anyone discover it at checkout. If it is narrowed to concentrated 7-OH, the line Dutchess drew, nothing we sell is reached and we will say so here.
Draw the line at concentration, not at the plant.
This is not an argument that nothing should be regulated. The concentrated and semi-synthetic 7-OH products behind most of the harm reporting are the ones the federal government is moving to control, and we have never sold them. It is an argument about where a county draws its line.
The name does not match the text
Section 2 says the law "may be cited as the Saratoga County Kratom Consumer Protection Act." A Kratom Consumer Protection Act is model legislation that keeps kratom legal while imposing age limits, labeling and testing rules. This measure prohibits it instead. The title and the operative sections point in opposite directions.
Concentration is the line regulators are drawing
The federal action, the pending New York cap S8925A, and the Dutchess and Suffolk county measures all target 7-hydroxymitragynine above a concentration threshold rather than the plant. A county that reaches the whole plant is drawing a line the state and federal governments have not drawn.
A prohibition removes the tested supply first
Vendors who publish batch testing and print alkaloid content are the ones who comply with a county ban. Nothing in the filed text reaches possession, so demand inside the county continues under Section 4(D) while the accountable sellers exit.
The record is thin in the findings
Section 1 states the county "finds" that kratom products "may contain" mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine or other compounds, and that their sale "presents potential risks." The findings cite no county data, no incident count and no local investigation.
Video series for officials
Kratom Leaf and 7-OH
Short explainers for officials weighing an outright ban, with a transcript and sources for every part.
Watch the series
A committee took it up. The full Board decides it.
Saratoga County is governed by a Board of Supervisors, one from each of the county's towns and the City of Saratoga Springs, so the people who vote on this are the same town supervisors who run your town. The Public Safety Committee took the item up on September 1 and approved it, which the county announced on September 4, and on September 15 the full Board introduced the law and set its public hearing.
The hearing is on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. in the Board's meeting room at 40 McMaster Street, Ballston Spa. The Clerk's notice says all persons wishing to speak will be heard, and written comments must arrive by 3:30 p.m. that day, by email to publiccomment@saratogacountyny.gov or by mail to the Clerk of the Board. The hearing comes before any vote, so this is the point at which the text can still be changed.
Put a written comment in the hearing record, and write to the supervisor for your town through the county's directory below. Two honest sentences from a resident of the town, saying who you are and what you are asking for, outweigh any script, including ours.
Inside the county, the Town of Clifton Park adopted its own local law on October 6, 2026, titled a ban on the sale, distribution, possession for sale and public display of kratom and kratom-derived products. The Town has not yet published the adopted text, so we have not confirmed its scope. It takes effect once filed with the Secretary of State and applies to Clifton Park addresses whatever the county decides.
The Public Safety Committee
As printed on the September 1, 2026 agenda. The item was presented by County Administrator Steve Bulger.
Write your own email in a minute
Say where you are writing from and add your name and town. The letter rewrites itself for a Saratoga County resident, a New Yorker outside the county, and someone out of state, because those are not the same argument and pretending otherwise is how mail gets discounted. It opens in your own email app and sends from your address, not ours. Edit anything before you send it.
Your letter
The committee addresses are the supervisors' own town offices, which is where their county mail goes. The public comment address is the one the Clerk's notice for the October 14 hearing gives for written comment, due by 3:30 p.m. that day; the Clerk's office is on (518) 885-2240. Written comment can also be mailed to 40 McMaster Street, Ballston Spa, New York 12020.
Scott Ostrander
Chairs the committee that took the item up.
What people are asking.
Has Saratoga County banned kratom?
No. Introductory No. 6, Print No. 1 of 2026 is a proposal. The Board of Supervisors introduced it on September 15, 2026 and holds a public hearing on it on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. It has not been adopted, and nothing is in force.
Can I speak at the hearing or send a comment?
Yes. The county's notice says all persons wishing to speak will be heard at the October 14 hearing, at 4:30 p.m. in the Board's meeting room at 40 McMaster Street, Ballston Spa. Written comments must arrive by 3:30 p.m. that day, by email to publiccomment@saratogacountyny.gov or by mail to the Clerk of the Board, 40 McMaster Street, Ballston Spa, NY 12020.
When does it take effect?
It does not, unless the Board of Supervisors votes to adopt it after the October 14 public hearing. Section 9 says that if it is adopted, the law takes effect on filing with the Secretary of State, and Section 10 gives businesses thirty days after that to clear inventory.
Would it cover plain leaf powder, or only extracts?
Plain leaf. Section 4(E) is headed "No Exception for Natural Kratom Leaf Products" and states the prohibitions apply to natural kratom leaf products including powder form, and to leaf that has been dried, ground, milled, powdered or encapsulated.
Does it make possession illegal?
No. Section 4(D) states that nothing in the local law prohibits possession of kratom by an individual for personal use, unless something else in state or federal law does. The measure is aimed at commercial sale and distribution.
Do you still ship to Saratoga County?
Yes. Orders to Saratoga County addresses ship normally today and will keep shipping unless and until a ban is adopted and takes effect. If that happens we will stop, and we will email affected customers rather than let anyone find out at checkout.
Which New York counties do you already not ship to?
Nassau, Washington, Oneida, and Albany. Albany County is the most recent: a county Department of Health order signed August 24, 2026 took effect at 12:01 a.m. on September 1, 2026. Rensselaer County has signed a ban that takes effect once it is filed with the Secretary of State, and we ship there until then.
What about Clifton Park?
The Town of Clifton Park, inside Saratoga County, adopted its own Local Law No. 13 of 2026 on October 6, 2026, 5 to 0, titled a law to prohibit the sale, distribution, possession for sale and public display of kratom and kratom-derived products. The Town has not yet published the adopted text, and the draft it posted before the hearing reached only 7-OH above 2 percent of total alkaloids or 1 mg per serving, so we have not confirmed whether it reaches natural leaf. It takes effect once filed with the Secretary of State and applies to Clifton Park addresses whatever the county decides. Orders to Clifton Park ship normally while we confirm what the adopted text covers.
Where can I read the law myself?
It is attached to the Saratoga County Public Safety Committee agenda packet for the September 1, 2026 meeting, published by the county. The local law follows the draft introducing resolution in that packet.
Where every claim came from.
The provisions on this page were read out of the Saratoga County Public Safety Committee agenda packet for the meeting of Tuesday, September 1, 2026, 2:30pm, at 40 McMaster Street, Ballston Spa. The packet contains the draft introducing resolution followed by the full text of Introductory No. 6, Print No. 1 of 2026. Section numbers are cited inline above so any statement here can be checked against the filed text rather than taken on trust. The hearing date, time, place and comment deadline come from the Clerk of the Board's notice for the October 14, 2026 hearing on this law.
For the surrounding New York picture, including which counties have adopted bans and which are only considering them, see our state-by-state kratom legality reference. The neighbouring Rensselaer County ban, adopted September 8, 2026 and since signed by its County Executive, is covered on its own page.
Hudson Valley Botanicals sells kratom and would be affected if this local law is adopted, so read this page with that interest in mind. Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing here describes what any product does. It is a summary of a filed local law, with section citations so you can check it yourself. Laws change; the county's own published documents are the authoritative version.
