// Federal Regulation · Dated Record

The DEA and 7-OH: A Complete Dated Timeline

As of July 17, 2026, 7-OH is not federally scheduled. The DEA published two notices of intent on July 6, 2026; the earliest a temporary Schedule I order can take effect is August 5, 2026 (30 days later), and the HHS comment window closes July 31, 2026.

Every federal action on 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) — warning letters, scheduling recommendations, the DEA Notice of Intent, and the statutory deadlines that follow — in one place, with dates and primary documents. No predictions, no advocacy.

Last updated July 17, 2026. This page is reviewed after every new Federal Register publication or agency press release touching 7-OH, and updated within 48 hours of any new action.

The short version

• On July 1, 2026, the DEA announced Notices of Intent to temporarily place 7-OH (above a specified threshold) and three related compounds in Schedule I; both notices published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2026.
• An HHS request for information remains open for comment through July 31, 2026. By statute, no temporary scheduling order can take effect before August 5, 2026.
• The notices target concentrated and semi-synthetic products — ordinary kratom leaf and mitragynine are not named.

Key dates at a glance

Timeline of federal actions

1. July 15, 2025

   FDA issues warning letters over 7-OH products

   The FDA sent warning letters to seven companies marketing concentrated 7-OH tablets, gummies, and shots, stating the products were unapproved new drugs and, in some cases, adulterated foods. The letters were the first federal enforcement action to name 7-OH specifically rather than kratom generally, and they signaled that the agency views isolated 7-OH differently from leaf material.

2. July 29, 2025

   FDA recommends scheduling; HHS forwards to DEA

   In a joint press event, the FDA Commissioner announced a formal recommendation that 7-OH be placed under the Controlled Substances Act, and HHS transmitted that recommendation to the DEA. Notably, the announcement drew an explicit line between concentrated 7-OH products and traditional kratom leaf, which the recommendation did not cover.

3. August 2025 – June 2026

   States move first

   While the federal recommendation sat with the DEA, state legislatures acted. Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin enacted bans on 7-OH products. Tennessee and Kansas passed restrictions that took effect July 1, 2026, ending retail and mail-order sales there. Mississippi took the opposite path: legal for adults 21+ statewide except in 11 northeastern counties with local prohibitions. Our state-by-state law tracker keeps the full map current.

4. July 1, 2026

   DEA announces Notices of Intent to temporarily schedule

   The DEA announced two Notices of Intent, published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2026. The first places 7-hydroxymitragynine in Schedule I on a temporary basis when present above a specified threshold — greater than 0.05% (w/w, w/v, or v/v) or more than 1 mg per article. The companion notice covers three related compounds: mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16. The threshold language matters: it is written to capture concentrated, isolated, and semi-synthetic products, not the trace levels found in unprocessed kratom leaf. Retailers have published useful plain-English walk-throughs of the notice — Favor'd Alkz's breakdown of what the DEA notice actually says is one of the more careful ones we've seen from the industry side.

5. July 31, 2026

   HHS request for information closes

   HHS opened a request for information alongside the DEA notices, seeking data on the proposed 7-OH threshold and on the manufacturing, marketing, and chemistry of these products. The comment window is open now and closes July 31, 2026. RFI submissions become part of the public docket on regulations.gov and inform both the temporary order and any later permanent scheduling proceeding.

6. August 5, 2026

   Earliest possible effective date for a temporary order

   Under 21 U.S.C. § 811(h), a temporary scheduling order cannot be issued sooner than 30 days after the Notice of Intent. Counting from the July 6 Federal Register publication, the earliest a final order can appear in the Federal Register and take effect is August 5, 2026. The DEA is not required to act on that date — it may issue the order later, modify the compound list or thresholds, or decline to finalize. We cover the possible branches on our what changes after August 5 page.

How does "temporary Schedule I" actually work?

Temporary scheduling is a distinct mechanism from normal drug scheduling. Under § 811(h) of the Controlled Substances Act, the Attorney General (delegated to the DEA) may place a substance in Schedule I for two years, extendable by one additional year, if the agency finds it necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to public safety. The trade-off built into the statute: the DEA can move faster — it does not need the full eight-factor scientific and medical analysis that permanent scheduling requires — but the placement expires unless a permanent rulemaking is completed.

Three agencies play different roles in that process, and conflating them causes most of the confusion in coverage of this issue. The FDA evaluates and recommends, HHS transmits and binds the scientific record, and the DEA decides and enforces. 7ohBlack's explainer on who does what among the DEA, HHS, and FDA maps each agency's statutory lane in detail.

If a temporary order issues, manufacturing, distribution, and possession of the covered compounds above threshold would become subject to Schedule I controls on the order's effective date. Temporary orders are not subject to ordinary notice-and-comment rulemaking and are largely insulated from pre-enforcement judicial review — which is why the 30-day window between notice and order is the main formal opportunity for input.

What does the notice cover — and what doesn't it?

The July notices are compound-specific. Above-threshold 7-OH isolates and fortified tablets are inside the first notice's scope, and the semi-synthetic derivatives (mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, MGM-16) are covered by the companion notice. Unprocessed kratom leaf, standard leaf powders, and mitragynine itself are not named. That distinction tracks the FDA's July 2025 framing, which treated concentrated 7-OH products as a separate category from traditional kratom preparations. If a temporary order finalizes on the notice's current terms, products would be assessed against the published thresholds, not against whether they contain any detectable 7-OH at all.

FAQ

Primary sources

• DEA Notice of Intent (July 1, 2026) and related releases — dea.gov/press-releases and the Federal Register docket.
• FDA warning letters and the July 29, 2025 scheduling recommendation — fda.gov press announcements.
• HHS request for information (closes July 31, 2026) — public docket on regulations.gov.
• Temporary scheduling statute — 21 U.S.C. § 811(h).