The bill passed. Plain leaf is not affected.
On August 10, 2026 the Dutchess County Legislature adopted Resolution 2026136 on a voice vote, with no audible opposition. It is not a blanket kratom ban. It prohibits only concentrated 7-OH products, above 2% of total alkaloids or 1 mg per serving, the same line New York State and the DEA drew. Plain leaf kratom is not affected, orders continue as normal, and there is nothing anyone needs to act on.
What Resolution 2026136 actually does.
County Executive Sue Serino announced a countywide ban on July 30, 2026. The County Legislature did not take that version up. What it filed, reviewed in committee on August 6, and adopted on August 10 was its own narrower measure, Resolution 2026136. The list below is drawn from that adopted text, not from the announcement that preceded it.
- Restricts products containing 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) above 2 percent of total alkaloid content, or above 1 mg per serving. Plain leaf kratom sits below both thresholds and is not restricted.
- The test is concentration, not the word "natural." The sponsor made this explicit on the floor: a product being natural does not by itself make it legal under this law, and an all natural product above the threshold is covered too. Plain leaf qualifies because of where it falls on the scale, not because of how it is labelled.
- Matches the thresholds in the New York State bill that passed both houses in June 2026, and follows the same concentration-based approach the DEA took in July 2026.
- Exempts products dispensed under a valid prescription, and products approved by the FDA.
- Enforced by the Dutchess County Department of Health, with civil penalties.
- Becomes void if and when a New York State law covering the same ground takes effect, so the county rule does not outlive or conflict with the state one.
The county's July 30 announcement is here: Serino Proposes Countywide Ban as Kratom Health Concerns Grow, dutchessny.gov. The adopted resolution is the controlling document, and it is narrower than the announcement described.
Nothing changes for what we sell
Hudson Valley Botanicals is a one person business, mine, run out of Poughkeepsie since 2017. We sell leaf only. We carry no 7-OH and no concentrated extracts, never have and never will, so the thresholds in the filed bill do not reach anything on our shelves.
I had a real stake in the version that was announced, and I said so plainly on this page last week. I have the same stake in saying so now that the filed text turned out to be narrower: orders continue as normal, and there is nothing here anyone needs to act on.
The executive proposed it. The legislature decided.
A proposal from the county executive is a request. Twenty five elected county legislators decided whether it became local law, after the relevant committee reviewed the text first.
Sue Serino
County Executive. Announced a countywide ban on July 30. That broader version is not what the Legislature took up.
25 County Legislators
Wrote the narrower 7-OH measure, Resolution 2026136, and adopted it on August 10 after committee review on August 6. Each represents one district.
Department of Health
Enforces the 7-OH thresholds now that the bill is adopted.
The line the county drew, and who else drew it.
Nobody serious is arguing for no rules. The question was always where to draw the line, and the federal government and New York State have both drawn it in the same place: at concentrated synthetic products, not at the plant. Resolution 2026136 as filed lands on that same line. Here is the background that makes it the right one.
The federal government drew the line at concentration, not at the plant
On July 1, 2026 the DEA announced its intent to temporarily place 7-OH into Schedule I above a specified concentration threshold, set at 0.05 percent, along with three related synthetic compounds. The action deliberately targets enhanced, concentrated, synthetic, and semi-synthetic products. Ordinary leaf carrying only naturally occurring trace amounts below the threshold is not covered. The scheduling order was stated to publish on or after August 5, 2026. The agencies charged with drug enforcement and public health reviewed the science and concluded the concentrates are the threat.
New York State already regulates this, and is going further
In December 2025 the governor signed legislation prohibiting kratom sales to anyone under 21 and requiring ingredient disclosure and consumer warning labels. In June 2026 the state legislature passed a bill addressing concentrated synthetic 7-OH products, and further legislation on the Kratom Consumer Protection Act model, with testing, labeling, and age standards, has been introduced.
A New York county faced this exact choice last week and chose regulation
In late July 2026 the Suffolk County Legislature voted unanimously to regulate kratom rather than ban it outright, a law its County Executive has since signed: prohibiting products adulterated with other dangerous substances and synthesized kratom materials, and requiring third party testing for everything sold in the county. Nassau County went the other way earlier in 2026 and banned outright. Dutchess gets to pick which of those two precedents it follows.
Prohibition moves the market, it does not close it
A countywide ban would go further than the DEA itself determined was warranted, while the concentrated 7-OH products the county is rightly worried about are about to become federally illegal regardless of what Dutchess does. What a local ban does reach is the businesses here that already verify age, test every batch, and publish results. Demand does not disappear with them. It relocates to sellers with no age check, no testing, no labeling, and nobody the county can hold accountable at all.
Sources
- DEA press release, July 1, 2026: DEA to Temporarily Schedule 7-OH and Related Substances to Protect Public Safety
- Federal Register, July 6, 2026: Temporary Placement of 7-Hydroxymitragynine Above a Specified Threshold in Schedule I
- Congressional Research Service: Temporary Control of 7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and Related Substances Under the Controlled Substances Act
- FDA: Hiding in Plain Sight, 7-OH Products
- Governor of New York, December 22, 2025: signing of the under-21 sales prohibition and warning label requirements
- New York S10514 (2026): testing, labeling, and age standards for kratom products
- The Long Island Advance, July 30, 2026: County Legislature approves kratom regulation
- Dutchess County announcement, July 30, 2026: Serino Proposes Countywide Ban as Kratom Health Concerns Grow
- Dutchess County Legislature meeting video, live and archived
What a compliant operator already looks like.
The standards the county says it wants already exist here in practice. Some of the list below is required by New York State law. The rest goes beyond anything any law currently requires of me. Here is how this business runs today, and it is why the filed thresholds do not reach anything we sell.
- Leaf only. No 7-OH, no concentrated extracts, never have and never will.
- Every customer age verified at 21 or over by a third party service requiring a photo ID upload at checkout.
- Every batch tested by independent third party laboratories, with the certificate of analysis published publicly.
- Labeling compliant with New York State ingredient disclosure and warning requirements.
- No shipping into states or localities where sale is prohibited.
The letter we sent before the text was filed
On July 31, 2026, before Resolution 2026136 was available to read, I wrote to the County Executive and the Legislature asking them to aim the local law at concentrated 7-OH products rather than at kratom leaf, and offering to meet with anyone who wanted to talk through how a compliant operator runs.
The filed text draws that line already, so the request is moot and I have withdrawn it. I am leaving this note here rather than the letter itself, because the letter argued at length against a version of the bill that was never filed, and republishing that argument now would misrepresent what the county actually proposed.
The offer to meet stands. To reach us directly, use our contact page.
What changed.
The July 30 announcement described the proposal as a countywide kratom ban, and that is the version most people heard about. The Legislature wrote something narrower instead, and the measure it adopted on August 10 targets only 7-OH concentrates. We were preparing to ask the Legislature to draw exactly this line; it had already drawn it. If you wrote or called, thank you, your ask and the adopted bill agree, and the recording shows the mail was read before the vote rather than filed away.
What happens next.
The Government Services and Administration Committee reviewed the text on Thursday, August 6, and the full Legislature adopted it on Monday, August 10. The session recording is archived here, and we have now been through all of it.
The resolution was read at the 37 minute mark, debated for about sixteen minutes, and adopted by voice vote just after 53 minutes. No floor amendment was offered, so the text that passed is the text that came out of committee. There was a sharp exchange over process, with the minority leader objecting that the law reached members' desks about ten business days before the meeting with no chance to help draft it, and the sponsor answering that a floor amendment was available to anyone who wanted one. Nobody moved one. The letters mattered. During the debate one legislator said from the floor that he had read the emails and done his own research before deciding, and went on to cite the federal scheduling action and the distinction between concentrated products and leaf. Separately, the clerk logged correspondence on Resolution 136 from two named residents, announced after the vote. The effective date was not stated at the meeting and will come from the filed local law.
Two counties in New York have now chosen to regulate concentrates rather than ban the plant outright, Suffolk in July and Dutchess in August. We would rather see the rest of the state read those two votes than the earlier ones. Regulation that draws the line at concentration addresses the actual concern, and it keeps the sellers who test and verify age inside the system where a county can hold them to it.
Two counties in New York have now chosen to regulate concentrates rather than ban the plant outright, Suffolk in July and Dutchess in August. We would rather see the rest of the state read those two votes than the earlier ones. Regulation that separates concentrated 7-OH from natural leaf addresses the actual concern, and it keeps the sellers who test and verify age inside the system where a county can hold them to it.
Who is handling it, and where.
Published county contact information, kept here as reference. Nobody needs to write on our account. If you want to tell your own legislator that you support the filed bill, that is yours to decide. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm.
Sue Serino
Her office announced the broader countywide ban on July 30, which is not the measure the Legislature adopted.
- CountyExec@DutchessNY.gov
- Phone
- 845-486-2000
- Dutchess County Office Building, 22 Market Street, 6th Floor, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
General inbox, all 25 legislators
The body that adopted it on August 10, after committee review on August 6.
- CountyLegislature@DutchessNY.gov
- Phone
- 845-486-2100
- 22 Market Street, 6th Floor, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Julie Shiroishi
The clerk logs public correspondence into the record. Reachable through the Legislature's office.
- Phone
- 845-486-2100
- 22 Market Street, 6th Floor, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Find the legislator who represents you
If you live in Dutchess County and want to follow how your own district votes on August 10, this is where to find out who represents you.
Fair questions, answered straight.
Is this about kratom leaf or about 7-OH?
Only 7-OH. Resolution 2026136 as filed restricts products above 2 percent 7-OH of total alkaloid content or above 1 mg of 7-OH per serving. Plain leaf sits below both numbers. Concentrated and semi-synthetic 7-OH products are a different category from traditional leaf, and the filed bill treats them differently, which is the whole reason we support it.
What happens to my orders?
Nothing changes. We sell leaf only, we have never sold 7-OH or concentrated extracts, and the filed bill does not reach what we sell. Orders to Dutchess County and everywhere else we ship continue exactly as they are.
Why did this page say the opposite last week?
Because the announcement said the opposite. The county publicised it on July 30 as a countywide kratom ban, and this page was built that same week to ask the Legislature to narrow it to concentrates. When the text was filed as Resolution 2026136, it turned out to already be narrowed to concentrates. We were wrong about the bill, we would rather say so on the page than quietly delete it, and this note is here so anyone who saw the earlier version knows what changed.
Should I still write or call the county?
No opposition is needed. If you want to tell your legislator you support the filed bill, that is your call and it is ordinary civic participation, but nobody needs to write anything on our account. The letter builder that used to live on this page has been taken down, because it argued against a bill we now support.
Can I watch what the county did?
Yes. Committee review was Thursday, August 6 at 6:00 PM, and the full Legislature adopted the resolution on Monday, August 10. Both sessions are archived at totalwebcasting.com, and county meetings are open to the public at the County Office Building, 22 Market Street in Poughkeepsie.
Was the bill amended before it passed?
We are going through the August 10 session recording and will post the vote detail, any floor amendments, and the effective date here. Our position is about where the line is drawn, not about who drew it. If anything in the adopted text moved the line from concentrates onto leaf, this page would change again and we would email customers rather than let a stale page speak for us.
Corrections travel slower than alarm.
The countywide ban headline reached a lot of people last week. This correction will reach fewer of them. If you saw the first version, or passed it along, this is the page worth passing along now.
This page is maintained by Hudson Valley Botanicals, a kratom retailer based in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York, and we have a commercial interest in how this legislation is written. It is civic and legislative information about a proposed local law, not legal advice, and the filed text is the controlling document rather than our summary of it. Nothing on this page describes what any product does. Kratom products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.
