The administration of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey just made kratom illegal with the stroke of a pen. Casually disrupting thousands of lives, jobs, and businesses, Gov. Healey’s office announced in an August 13 press release:
Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein, MD, PhD, has issued an emergency order temporarily placing all forms of kratom into Schedule I under Massachusetts law. The order will take effect following a 14-day notice period and remain in effect for up to one year. It will give local boards of health and other municipal officials additional authority to take enforcement action against retailers selling kratom products.
While throwing out any chance for regulation via Schedule I, the press release bemoaned the lack of regulation in Massachusetts:
“Dangerous kratom products are being sold in stores across Massachusetts with little oversight, and people – including children – often have no way of knowing what they’re buying or how potent it is,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Customers should be able to trust that the products being sold in stores are safe. We’re taking action to protect young people and residents, give communities the tools to get dangerous products off store shelves and make sure anyone struggling with dependence can get the treatment and support they need.”
Apparently the only way to solve this is executive power that sends kratom directly to the black market (where there are no standards for safety or purity or age limits, and where people struggling with dependence may hide their use for fear of being locked in a cage instead of seeking help).
The action came just three days after the Massachusetts Senate took action on a kratom regulation bill.
Introduced in February 2025, S1609 proposed a comprehensive regulatory framework, including registration, testing, labeling, age restrictions, and limits on certain kratom products. The MA Senate has sat on this bill since March 2025 and let the reporting date of July 31, 2026 expire.
On August 10, 2026, however, the bill was replaced by a similar regulatory bill, S3198. Sponsored by the House Committee on Public Health, S3198 would limit amounts of BOTH mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine per product, ban products containing non-kratom compounds, ban kratom vapes and injection products, require kratom products to meet US Pharmacopeia standards for residual solvents, ban advertising that’s “attractive to children”, require detailed information on product labels, restrict sales to those under 21, and require that vendors and manufacturers register with the Department of Health. S3198 was reported on favorably by the Committee on Public Health and forwarded to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
In the House, a kratom regulation bill (H5127) was introduced and approved by the House Joint Committee on the Judiciary and advanced to the House Ways and Means Committee, where it was left sitting idle.
In 2023, H3762 proposed regulations including a 1% limit on 7-hydroxymitragynine, age 21 restrictions, labeling requirements, and prohibitions on synthetic alkaloids. It also did not become law.
Gov. Healey, a Democrat, joins Republican governors and Attorneys General in a bipartisan effort to pass terrible policy using a tyrannical rather than democratic process to advance the drug war.