WASHINGTON, D.C. — August 27, 2026 — The American Kratom Association today announced it has
filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking declaratory
and injunctive relief to ensure that the Drug Enforcement Administration’s temporary scheduling order
for mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI), MGM-15, and MGM-16 is not misapplied to traditional botanical
kratom products that contain only incidental, naturally occurring, or naturally formed trace amounts of
MGPI.
The complaint names the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole, and
the U.S. Department of Justice as defendants. The lawsuit does not ask the court to invalidate DEA’s
temporary scheduling order in the first instance. Instead, AKA asks the court to confirm that the order
does not apply to traditional botanical kratom products merely because modern testing may detect
naturally occurring or naturally formed trace amounts of pseudoindoxyl.
“This lawsuit is about protecting consumers, preserving science-based regulation, and ensuring the
DEA’s action stays focused on the dangerous products that DOJ and DEA identified: deliberately
manufactured, concentrated opioid compounds — not natural kratom leaf,” said Mac Haddow, Senior
Fellow on Public Policy for the American Kratom Association. “The AKA supports aggressive enforcement
against chemically manipulated MGPI, MGM-15, and MGM-16 products. But responsible kratom
consumers and legitimate botanical kratom businesses should not be put at risk because trace-level
chemistry is detected in otherwise traditional botanical kratom.”
The lawsuit cites DOJ’s own public statement that the emergency scheduling action is directed at
“deliberately manufactured and concentrated opioid products, not traditional botanical kratom.” AKA’s
filing argues that DOJ’s statement should control how the temporary scheduling order is interpreted,
and that traditional botanical kratom should not be criminalized when trace MGPI is present only as a
result of the plant’s chemistry or ordinary post-harvest handling.
According to the complaint, the uncertainty arises because the agencies’ public statements point in one
direction — targeting enhanced, synthetic, and concentrated kratom-related opioid products — while
the unqualified chemical listing in the temporary scheduling order could be read to reach traditional
botanical kratom if trace MGPI is detected by modern analytical methods.
“The federal government made the right decision to target dangerous chemically manipulated opioid
products,” Haddow said. “But that objective is undermined if legitimate natural kratom leaf products are
swept into Schedule I because laboratories can now detect trace compounds at levels that do not
present the public safety threat DEA sought to address.”
The complaint explains that mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, and pseudoindoxyl are chemically
related, and that trace pseudoindoxyl may arise through botanical chemistry, ordinary post-harvest
handling, storage, or analytical conditions — without intentional synthesis, enrichment, fortification, or
addition. The filing also notes that accredited laboratory testing found trace pseudoindoxyl in
unprocessed kratom leaf and botanical powder at levels far below the concentrated products that
prompted DEA’s action.
AKA emphasized that it is not seeking protection for intentionally manufactured, concentrated, fortified,
or enhanced MGPI products. The complaint states that AKA’s GMP participants do not manufacture or
sell products intentionally fortified with pseudoindoxyl and do not challenge federal control of
intentionally synthesized, isolated, enriched, fortified, or concentrated pseudoindoxyl products.
“What we are asking for is simple: enforce the law against the bad actors who manufacture and market
dangerous opioid compounds, while protecting access to safely formulated, properly labeled, age-
restricted natural kratom products,” Haddow said. “Consumers should not lose access to traditional
botanical kratom because of an ambiguous emergency order that DOJ has already said is not aimed at
botanical kratom.”
The lawsuit also points to DEA’s companion 7-OH scheduling approach, where DEA recognized the need
for a threshold to distinguish botanical kratom containing naturally occurring trace 7-OH from enhanced
or synthetic 7-OH products. AKA argues that the same kind of scientifically defensible threshold or
objective line is needed for MGPI to prevent unintended consequences for traditional botanical kratom.
The complaint seeks a declaration that the temporary scheduling order does not apply to traditional
botanical kratom products whose only pseudoindoxyl or MGM-related content is naturally occurring,
naturally formed, or present only in trace quantities without intentional synthesis, isolation, enrichment,
fortification, concentration, or addition. In the alternative, if DEA claims the order applies to traditional
botanical kratom, AKA asks the court to set aside or enjoin that application and require a reasoned,
scientifically defensible standard.
“This litigation is necessary because responsible companies, laboratories, researchers, and consumers
need clarity now,” Haddow said. “Without clarification, the very testing and quality-control systems that
protect consumers could become the basis for enforcement risk. That is bad science, bad policy, and bad
consumer protection.”
AKA reiterated its support for strong federal and state action against chemically manipulated opioids
falsely marketed as kratom, including MGPI, MGM-15, MGM-16, and high-potency 7-OH products. At
the same time, AKA called on regulators to maintain a clear distinction between dangerous
manufactured opioid compounds and traditional botanical kratom.
“The right policy is not confusion,” Haddow said. “The right policy is targeted enforcement against
dangerous chemically manipulated opioids, paired with clear federal standards for natural kratom
products that protect consumers and preserve access.”
About the American Kratom Association
The American Kratom Association is a consumer advocacy organization committed to protecting access
to safe, natural kratom leaf products and advancing science-based consumer protection standards. AKA
supports age restrictions, accurate labeling, contaminant testing, good manufacturing practices, and
strong enforcement against adulterated, mislabeled, synthetic, semi-synthetic, concentrated, fortified,
or chemically manipulated products falsely marketed as kratom.
