Saratoga County adopted a kratom ban.
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," prohibits selling or distributing any kratom product in the county, natural leaf and powder included. The full Board of Supervisors introduced it on September 15, 2026, held the public hearing on October 14, and adopted it unchanged on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, under Resolution 308. It takes effect when the county files it with the Secretary of State. Everything below is read out of the adopted text and cites the section it comes from.
Last updated October 26, 2026. The provisions and the adopting resolution come from the county's agenda for the October 20, 2026 Board meeting, which attaches the adopted text; the hearing account from the county's video of the October 14 hearing.
What the law does.
Everything in this list is drawn from the text the Board adopted on October 20, 2026, attached to Resolution 308, and each line names the section it comes from. It is the text the Board introduced on September 15, unchanged. It differs from the draft in the September 1 Public Safety Committee packet in two places: Section 6 starts with a fine rather than a misdemeanor, and Section 11, which lets a state or federal law take its place, is new. 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 was inconsistent with itself: the September 1 agenda index called it a law about "certain kratom products," while the draft resolution and the local law were both titled without that word. The adopted text is the version that governs, and it is not narrow.
- Section 4(A) prohibits any person from selling, offering for sale, distributing, furnishing, supplying, or otherwise commercially providing any kratom product within Saratoga County.
- Section 4(B) bars keeping kratom products on premises used for selling or distributing them, and Section 4(C) bars advertising or holding out any kratom product for sale within the 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 adopted 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(A) makes a violation punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. Under Section 6(B), a repeat violation within five years of a prior conviction is an unclassified misdemeanor, with an additional fine of up to $1,500, up to one year in jail, or both. 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 makes the law take effect immediately on filing with the Secretary of State. Section 10 then gives businesses holding inventory thirty days to clear it, and allows no sales or distribution in that time.
- Section 11 makes the law void once state or federal legislation with the same or substantially similar provisions takes effect, or once a state or federal agency issues regulations preempting it, and lets the Board decide by resolution whether that has happened.
- 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 law as adopted, 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 adopted on October 20 does the same in Section 11, which also lets the Board decide by resolution whether a state or federal law is close enough. Whether the pending state 7-OH cap, S8925A, would count is left to that resolution.
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.
We have stopped shipping to Saratoga County
Checkout no longer accepts a Saratoga County address, Clifton Park included. The law takes effect the day the county files it with the Secretary of State and allows no sales after that, so we stopped shipping there on October 21, 2026, the day after the vote, rather than wait for the filing. We follow the law in every state and locality we ship to, the same as we do for Nassau, Washington, Oneida, Albany, Rensselaer and Schoharie counties.
If the county later narrows the law to concentrated 7-OH, the line Dutchess drew, nothing we sell would be reached, and we would 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 adopted 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
Adopted, and still open to change.
The Public Safety Committee took the law up on September 1 and approved it, which the county announced on September 4, and on September 15 the full Board of Supervisors introduced it and set its public hearing. On Tuesday, October 20, 2026 the Board adopted it unchanged under Resolution 308. The resolution directs the Clerk of the Board to file the law with the Secretary of State, and under Section 9 it takes effect the day it is filed. The filing date, and the local law number it will carry, had not been reported as of October 21, 2026.
From here only the Board can change it, by adopting a new local law that amends or repeals it, with its own public hearing. Section 11 also ends it once a state or federal law with the same or substantially similar provisions takes effect, as the Board decides by resolution; whether the pending state 7-OH cap, S8925A, would count is left to that resolution.
The public hearing was held on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 and closed without a vote. Eleven people spoke. Two mothers spoke about their sons, and five others supported the ban, among them a nurse practitioner from the County's mental health and addiction services, who asked the Board to weigh the caseload and other costs that could follow. Four, including us, asked for a law aimed at concentrated and synthetic products rather than the leaf. The Clerk reported 48 emailed comments from 34 people, 26 opposed and 8 in favor. Our hearing report gives the time in the county's video for each speaker.
Inside the county, the Town of Clifton Park adopted Local Law No. 13 of 2026 on October 6, 2026, 5 to 0. The county law covers Clifton Park as well, so I stopped shipping to Clifton Park addresses with the rest of the county.
What people are asking.
Has Saratoga County banned kratom?
Yes. The Board of Supervisors adopted Introductory No. 6, Print No. 1 of 2026 on October 20, 2026 under Resolution 308, unchanged from the text it introduced on September 15. It takes effect when the county files it with the Secretary of State, which had not been reported as of October 21, 2026.
Can it still be changed?
Only by the Board of Supervisors, through a new local law that amends or repeals it, with its own public hearing. Section 11 also ends it once a state or federal law with the same or substantially similar provisions takes effect, as the Board decides by resolution. The public hearing on this law closed on October 14, 2026: eleven people spoke, and the Clerk reported 48 emailed comments from 34 people, 26 opposed and 8 in favor.
When does it take effect?
Under Section 9, the day it is filed with the Secretary of State; Resolution 308 directs the Clerk of the Board to file it. Section 10 gives businesses holding inventory thirty days after that to clear it, with no sales allowed in that time.
Does 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?
No. We stopped shipping to Saratoga County addresses on October 21, 2026, the day after the vote, and checkout no longer accepts one. The law takes effect the day it is filed and allows no sales after that, so we did not wait for the filing.
Which other New York counties do you not ship to?
Nassau, Washington, Oneida, Albany, Rensselaer, and Schoharie. Schoharie County's Board of Supervisors adopted a ban, Local Law No. 6 of 2026, on October 16, 2026, which takes effect on filing with the Secretary of State, and we stopped shipping there on October 19. Rensselaer County's ban, Local Law No. 1 of 2026, took effect on October 14, 2026, when it was filed with the Secretary of State, and we stopped shipping there that day. Before that, Albany County, where a Department of Health order took effect at 12:01 a.m. on September 1, 2026.
What about Clifton Park?
The Town of Clifton Park, inside Saratoga County, adopted Local Law No. 13 of 2026 on October 6, 2026, 5 to 0. The county law covers Clifton Park as well, so I stopped shipping to Clifton Park addresses with the rest of the county on October 21, 2026.
Where can I read the law myself?
The adopted text is attached to Resolution 308 in the Board of Supervisors' agenda for its October 20, 2026 meeting, and the same text, as introduced, is printed in full under Resolution 257 in the minutes of the September 15, 2026 meeting. Both are on the county's 2026 meetings page. The September 1 Public Safety Committee packet carries an earlier draft with different penalties and no Section 11.
Where every claim came from.
The provisions on this page were read out of Introductory No. 6, Print No. 1 of 2026 as the Board adopted it on October 20, 2026, attached as Schedule A to Resolution 308 in the Board's agenda for that meeting. It is the text the Board introduced on September 15, 2026, printed in full under Resolution 257 in the minutes of that meeting. News reports differ on the vote count: WNYT reported 20 to 3, and the Daily Gazette reported 17 to 4 with 2 absent. The Board's minutes, which will carry the roll call, had not been posted as of October 26, 2026. An earlier draft in the Public Safety Committee packet for September 1, 2026 differed in two places: its Section 6 made any violation a misdemeanor, and it had no Section 11. Section numbers are cited inline above so any statement here can be checked against the county's documents rather than taken on trust. The account of the October 14 hearing comes from the county's video of it; our hearing report gives the time in the video for each speaker.
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, in force since it was filed with the Secretary of State on October 14, 2026, is covered on its own page.
Hudson Valley Botanicals sells kratom and is affected by this local law, 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 an adopted local law, with section citations so you can check it yourself. Laws change; the county's own published documents are the authoritative version.
