FLORIDA ADDS TO EMERGENCY RULE TARGETING SYNTHESIZED KRATOM PRODUCTS

Florida made waves in August of 2025 by getting a step ahead of the federal government in how enhanced kratom products were classified. Turns out, that was only the first step in how the state is protecting public safety in the wake of bad actors in the industry. 

Nearly a year after formally labeling synthesized byproducts of kratom as controlled substances, authorities in Florida have updated the emergency rule to expand the list to other derivatives and to redefine the parameters of how products are categorized. That tweak in the rule aligns Florida with similar restrictions that were recently announced by federal authorities, and continues to clarify the difference between dangerous products masquerading as kratom and those that are responsibly derived from natural leaf kratom. 

As part of a press conference on June 22, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the update to an emergency rule centered on 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), which is an alkaloid that occurs in “tiny” amounts in natural kratom plants. In addition to announcing the additional substances and synthesized chemicals that would be banned, Uthmeier clarified the intent of both the new additions to the rule and the changes to the wording regarding how 7-OH would be quantified. 

Taking Aim at Bad Actors

Almost a year after initially creating the rule targeting 7-OH, Uthmeier said that his primary concern in updating the order was to target manufacturers who continued to mislead customers about the nature of their products. 

“The reality is that evildoers will try to skirt the system,” Uthmeier said. “They will try to dodge, deviate and come up with new ways to put profit over public safety. Our new rule, which will drop today, is going to expand. We’re going to make sure new chemical compounds that are being used to blend or substitute…will be included.” 

Rather than setting limits based on the percentage of 7-OH in a product, the updated rule states that no product may contain more than 1 milligram per gram or per milliliter. That rule applies to all compounds covered in the updated list, and the limits match the actions taken by the federal government to establish a similar rule. 

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) sent two Notices of Intent to the Federal Register on July 1 to temporarily place 7-OH and three related substances into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. The related substances were among the new additions to Florida’s emergency rule, and the limit of 1 mg per gram/milliliter matched the DEA's temporary action against 7-OH. 

One of the key takeaways from both actions was a relaxed approach toward mitragynine, the primary alkaloid found in natural kratom leaf. In fact, the updated emergency rule specifically dictates that any product containing 7-OH or related compounds must have 100 times as much mitragynine by mass to fall into the category of natural kratom products. 

Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who is Florida’s Surgeon General, clarified that the specific wording of the rule was put in place to make sure that natural kratom products were not affected by the update. 

“This isn’t about kratom. Some people will try and conflate restrictions on 7-OH with some war against kratom, and I want to be clear that I don’t feel that way,” Ladapo said. “I don’t think that’s the intention at all, and it’s not the outcome of this new rule that the attorney general is talking about.”

From Uthmeier’s perspective, the best path forward was to listen to the prevailing science and focus on 7-OH instead of companies that produce quality, natural kratom products. Rather than get caught up in the specific details of the science, Uthmeier made it clear that his primary concern was targeting opportunistic manufacturers pushing dangerous products into the market. 

“No, I am not a chemist, but I am a prosecutor, and if you violate our rule, we are going to make you pay for it,” Uthmeier said. “Believe me, we will be looking to make some examples out of bad actors.”

Cultivating the Conversation Around Kratom

On the science side, Ladapo’s support for natural kratom products was coupled with a warning against 7-OH and the companies trying to pass their products off as anything other than synthesized and enhanced. For Ladapo, the historical use of kratom and science supported by the federal government made it clear that products derived from natural leaf kratom were an entirely different matter from the products targeted by the emergency rule. 

“(Kratom) is a product that’s been on this Earth, and it’s been used for probably thousands of years, and it’s generally been used safely,” Ladapo said. “The ability for people to use kratom if they want is not what this discussion is about. Rather, this discussion is about predatory behavior, and that’s what the attorney general has described.”

Whereas natural leaf kratom products have been studied and shown to be well-tolerated at levels far beyond typical serving sizes, 7-OH products have been shown to contain risk factors more commonly associated with opioids. That is why Ladapo made a clear distinction between kratom’s role as a dietary supplement and the false promises used in the marketing of 7-OH products. 

Ladapo directly dismissed claims about the therapeutic nature of synthesized products being marketed as natural kratom. 

“That’s not the case here: 7-OH is really about addiction. With manufacturers responding by trying to skirt the rules, it just emphasizes the fact this is about addiction and exploiting it for financial gain,” Ladapo said. “That’s all 7-OH is about.” 

Rep. Dean Black also spoke at the press conference about the legislative implications of the emergency rule. According to Black, the legislature can revisit the issue as more research is done on kratom and its derivatives. What is important about this rule is that state officials prioritized customer safety over the red tape of updating existing kratom regulations in the state. 

“We have to get this right, because other states will follow us,” Black said.