Massachusetts banned all kratom by emergency order.
On August 13, 2026 the Governor and the Department of Public Health announced an emergency order placing all forms of kratom, natural leaf included, into Schedule I under Massachusetts law. It takes effect August 28, 2026 after a 14 day notice period and runs for up to one year. This page covers what the order does, what it means for Massachusetts orders, and how to be heard while the comment window matters.
What the emergency order actually does.
The list below is drawn from the state's August 13, 2026 announcement. The announcement is the controlling public description until the order text itself is published; if the published text differs, this page changes with it.
- Places all forms of kratom into Schedule I under Massachusetts law. This covers natural leaf, not only concentrated or synthetic 7-OH products. It is a whole-plant scheduling.
- Issued as an emergency order by the Commissioner of the Department of Public Health, announced by the Governor on August 13, 2026.
- Takes effect August 28, 2026, after a 14 day notice period, and remains in effect for up to one year.
- Gives local boards of health and other municipal officials additional authority to take enforcement action against retailers selling kratom products.
- Retailers that sell kratom products receive notification from the state explaining the action.
- Issued by the executive branch, not the legislature. The statewide ban bill, S.1558, was never reported out of committee, and the regulatory bill, H.5127, remains pending in House Ways and Means.
The state announcement is here: Governor Healey Takes Action to Protect Young People and Residents from Dangerous Kratom Products, mass.gov, August 13, 2026.
Massachusetts orders pause August 28
I follow the law in every state I ship to. When this order takes effect I stop shipping to Massachusetts billing and shipping addresses, and that stays in place for as long as the order does. The practical version: Massachusetts orders must be placed by Wednesday, August 27, 2026. Orders to every other state I serve continue as normal.
If the order is withdrawn, blocked, or allowed to lapse, Massachusetts shipping resumes and I email customers the same week it happens. I am not attaching a sale to any of this. The date is the point.
The comment window is open now.
The American Kratom Association is challenging the order. Its Massachusetts page tracks the effort and collects sign-ups for alerts about future hearings. The direct way to comment is to email the two offices yourself, and the letter builder below opens that email ready to send.
If you write, write plainly and in your own words: who you are, how the order affects you, and the specific ask, which is for Massachusetts to follow the line the federal government drew at concentrated 7-OH products rather than scheduling the plant itself. A short honest note from a resident outweighs any script. If you live in Massachusetts, your own state legislators are also worth a note, because the regulatory alternative, H.5127, is already in front of them.
Both links leave this site. The AKA is an advocacy organization we are not affiliated with; we link its page because it is the organized channel for following the challenge and hearing dates.
Or write your own email in a minute
Pick who it goes to, add your name and town, and if you want, a sentence or two in your own words about how the order affects you. The letter opens in your own email app and sends from your address, not ours. Edit anything before you send it.
Your letter
The Commissioner does not publish a personal inbox; mail to the department goes through its general address above, or by phone at 617-624-6000, or the DPH contact form.
Office of Constituent Services
Governor Maura Healey announced the order on August 13, 2026. Constituent Services logs and routes correspondence to the administration.
- constituent.services@state.ma.us
- Phone
- 617-725-4005 (toll free in MA: 888-870-7770)
- Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St., Room 280, Boston, MA 02133
Department of Public Health
Commissioner Robbie Goldstein issued the emergency order. The Commissioner has no personal public inbox; the department’s general address below routes correspondence.
- dph.info@state.ma.us
- Phone
- 617-624-6000
- Web form
- mass.gov/forms/contact-dph-by-web-form
- 250 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108
Where the line belongs, and who already drew it.
Nobody serious is arguing for no rules. The question is where to draw the line, and the federal government, the Massachusetts legislature's own pending bill, and two neighboring New York counties have all drawn it in the same place: at concentrated synthetic products and unregulated sellers, not at the plant. The emergency order draws it somewhere else. Here is the background.
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 federal agencies charged with drug enforcement and public health reviewed the science and concluded the concentrates are the threat. The Massachusetts order goes further than the DEA determined was warranted, by scheduling the plant itself.
The Massachusetts legislature was already choosing a different path
The statewide ban bill, S.1558, was never reported out of the Joint Committee on Public Health, and its extended reporting deadline expired on July 31, 2026. The kratom bill still moving in the legislature is H.5127, a committee redraft that would keep kratom legal under a regulate and test framework: sales limited to ages 21 and up, laboratory testing, and limits aimed at concentrated 7-OH products. The emergency order arrived two weeks after the ban stalled, substituting an executive decision for the line the legislature was still drawing.
Neighboring jurisdictions faced this choice and chose regulation
In late July 2026 the Suffolk County, NY Legislature voted unanimously to regulate kratom rather than ban it: naturally derived, third party tested products only, for ages 21 and up, synthetics prohibited. In August 2026 Dutchess County, NY declined a proposed countywide ban and instead unanimously adopted a measure restricting only concentrated 7-OH products. Both bodies had the same public health concerns in front of them and both concluded the line belongs at concentrates and unregulated sellers, not at the plant.
Prohibition moves the market, it does not close it
A statewide ban reaches the sellers who already verify age, test every batch, and publish results, and removes them from the market. Demand does not disappear with them. It relocates to sellers with no age check, no testing, no labeling, and nobody a board of health can hold accountable. The concentrated 7-OH products driving the concern are about to be federally scheduled regardless of what Massachusetts does.
Sources
- Mass.gov, August 13, 2026: Governor Healey Takes Action to Protect Young People and Residents from Dangerous Kratom Products
- American Kratom Association: Massachusetts action page (hearing alerts and updates)
- Boston.com, August 13, 2026: Healey temporarily restricts kratom sales statewide
- WBUR, August 13, 2026: Mass. moves to crack down on sales of kratom
- Massachusetts Legislature: Bill S.1558, An Act banning the sale of kratom
- Massachusetts Legislature: Bill H.5127, An Act relative to kratom
- DEA press release, July 1, 2026: DEA to Temporarily Schedule 7-OH and Related Substances to Protect Public Safety
- Congressional Research Service: Temporary Control of 7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and Related Substances Under the Controlled Substances Act
What a compliant operator already looks like.
The standards the order says it wants for consumers already exist in practice at regulated sellers. Here is how this business runs today. Some of it is required by New York State law, the rest goes beyond anything any law currently requires.
- 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, which is why Massachusetts shipping pauses when this order takes effect.
Fair questions, answered straight.
Does this cover kratom leaf, or only 7-OH products?
Everything. The order as announced places all forms of kratom into Schedule I under Massachusetts law, natural leaf included. That is what separates it from the federal DEA action and from the New York county laws, which draw the line at concentrated 7-OH products and leave plain leaf alone.
What happens to my orders?
If your billing or shipping address is in Massachusetts, orders must be placed by August 27, 2026. We stop shipping to Massachusetts addresses when the order takes effect on August 28, and that stays in place for as long as the order does. Orders to every other state we serve are unaffected.
Is the order permanent?
No. It is an emergency order that remains in effect for up to one year. It can be withdrawn, blocked, allowed to lapse, or replaced by legislation before that. The American Kratom Association has said it is working to counter it. If the order lifts, we resume Massachusetts shipping and email customers the same week.
Did the legislature pass this?
No. The statewide ban bill, S.1558, was never reported out of the Joint Committee on Public Health, and its extended reporting deadline expired July 31, 2026. The bill still moving in the legislature, H.5127, is a regulate and test framework rather than a ban. The emergency order came from the executive branch, through the Department of Public Health, two weeks after the ban bill stalled.
What can I actually do?
Email the two offices directly. The letter builder on this page opens a ready email to the Governor's office and the Department of Public Health from your own email address. A short note in your own words, saying how this affects you and asking the state to follow the federal line at concentrated 7-OH rather than the whole plant, is worth more than any script. The American Kratom Association's Massachusetts page at protectkratom.org/massachusetts collects sign-ups for alerts about future hearings, worth joining if you want to follow or attend them. If you live in Massachusetts, your own legislators are also worth a note, because H.5127 is the regulatory alternative already in front of them.
Why is a New York retailer writing about Massachusetts?
Because we ship there, until August 27, and because the order is a live example of the question every state is deciding right now: whether to draw the line at concentrated products or at the plant. We have a commercial interest in the answer and we say so plainly at the bottom of this page. The facts above are drawn from the state announcement and primary documents, and the sources are listed so you can check them.
Fourteen days is not a long window.
The order was announced August 13 and takes effect August 28. If you know someone in Massachusetts this affects, this page and its letter builder are worth passing along before the window closes.
This page is maintained by Hudson Valley Botanicals, a kratom retailer based in Poughkeepsie, New York, and we have a commercial interest in how this order is resolved, including sales we will lose while it is in force. It is civic and legislative information about a state emergency order, not legal advice, and the order text as published 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.
