DEA Places Three 7-OH-Related Compounds in Schedule I

On August 26, 2026, a Drug Enforcement Administration temporary scheduling order took effect placing three 7-hydroxymitragynine-related substances into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. This is a regulatory update. Below is what the filed documents say, what the Department of Justice said alongside them, and what remains unresolved.

What the order does

The document is a temporary scheduling order under Docket No. DEA-1644, signed August 24, 2026 by DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole and effective on publication in the Federal Register on August 26. It is a final action, not another proposal.

It reaches three substances:

• Mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, abbreviated MGPI in the Justice Department's announcement
• MGM-15, which the order notes is also known as dihydro-7-hydroxymitragynine
• MGM-16, also known as 9-fluoro-dihydro-7-hydroxymitragynine

Each is covered along with its isomers, esters, ethers, and salts. Because naming conventions for these compounds are not standardized internationally, the order specifies that compounds of the same structure are covered regardless of how atomic positions are numbered. The three enter the schedules as new paragraphs (h)(89) through (h)(91) of 21 CFR 1308.11.

The DEA states it is acting on a finding that placement is necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to public safety, the standard under 21 U.S.C. 811(h). The order runs until August 26, 2028, and the DEA notes it will publish a further document in the Federal Register if the order is extended or made permanent.

The detail that separates this from the 7-OH proposal

This order carries no concentration threshold. That is the substantive difference between it and the pending 7-OH action.

The DEA's July 6 notice of intent on 7-hydroxymitragynine, Docket No. DEA-1570, proposed to reach only material above a stated line: more than 0.050 percent 7-OH on a dry weight basis, or, for synthetic articles and processed dosage forms, more than 1.00 milligram per article. Those figures were the entire subject of the public comment docket.

No comparable number appears in the order for the three related compounds. They are scheduled as substances, without a concentration or per-article cutoff.

What the Justice Department said, and the limits it drew

The Department of Justice announced the action in a release numbered 26-971 on August 25, the day before publication. It supplies two things the Federal Register document does not: an attributed rationale and a stated enforcement policy.

Attorney General Todd Blanche framed the action as pre-emptive, describing the compounds as potent opioids being manufactured and sold in consumer products. The department describes all three, on preclinical evidence, as potent mu-opioid receptor agonists that may present risks associated with other mu-opioid agonists, including dependence and respiratory depression. That characterization is the department's, reported here as stated. The department also notes that MGM-16 has not been confirmed in the consumer market.

The scope sentence

The release states plainly: This action is directed at deliberately manufactured and concentrated opioid products, not traditional botanical kratom.

The enforcement policy, and its three stated limits

The department states that published scientific literature has not established MGPI as a naturally occurring kratom alkaloid, while acknowledging that analytical questions remain about whether MGPI may be reported at incidental trace levels in some botanical products as a result of processing, storage, or analytical conditions. On that basis, it says it will exercise enforcement discretion where only incidental trace amounts of MGPI are confirmed in a product otherwise consistent with botanical kratom.

The department attached three limits to that policy, and they matter as much as the policy itself:

• It does not create a legal exemption and does not change MGPI's status as a Schedule I controlled substance.
• It does not apply to MGM-15 or MGM-16, or to products containing manufactured, concentrated, fortified, or intentionally added MGPI.
• It does not change the scheduling status of any other substance, and does not limit the authority of the Food and Drug Administration under federal law.

Enforcement discretion is a statement of prosecutorial intent. It is not a change in the law, and it is not a carve-out. The substance remains in Schedule I on the terms the order sets. Any reading of this announcement as a federal clearance for kratom products is a misreading, and we want to be direct about that rather than let it circulate.

The 7-OH threshold order still has not issued

Separately, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health reopened the public comment window on the 7-OH threshold Request for Information under Docket No. HHS-OASH-2026-0232, which had closed July 31. The new deadline is September 10, 2026.

OASH states it is not soliciting comments on any permanent scheduling decision, the general safety or utility of kratom-derived products, or other policy questions outside the scope of the threshold determination for temporary scheduling. Comments are provided by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for consideration by the Attorney General.

As of publication, the order that would place 7-hydroxymitragynine above a specified threshold into Schedule I has not been issued, and no publication date has been announced. The threshold question, meaning where the federal line between leaf and concentrate is drawn and at what number, is still open.

Where NuWave stands

NuWave Botanicals does not carry, and has never carried, synthetic 7-OH isolates, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, or MGM-16 products. That has been our position since well before any federal action, and we wrote about it when the DEA filed its notices of intent in July, in our coverage of the DEA's synthetic 7-OH scheduling and in our look at how state lawmakers have drawn the same line.

That is a description of what we stock. It is not a legal conclusion about any product, ours or anyone else's, and nothing here should be read as one. We are not a law firm and this post is not legal advice.

On the analytical question the Justice Department raised: every batch we carry has a Certificate of Analysis from an independent third-party laboratory. If you want to understand what a COA does and does not tell you, and which panels appear on one, our guide to reading a kratom lab report covers it.

State and local law remains a separate matter from federal scheduling, and it is the layer that governs most purchases. We comply with all applicable state and local laws. Orders to restricted areas are not fulfilled. Check your local regulations before ordering. Our guide to kratom legality covers how that patchwork is structured. Questions about whether we ship to a specific address can go to orders@nuwavebotanicals.com.

What we are watching

• Whether and when the DEA issues the 7-OH threshold order under Docket No. DEA-1570, and at what number.
• The HHS comment record, open through September 10, 2026.
• Whether the DEA extends the DEA-1644 order or moves toward permanent scheduling before August 26, 2028.
• How states respond, given that several have already legislated on concentrated products ahead of the federal action.

We will update this post as the record develops.

Sources

1. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, Justice Department Announces Emergency Scheduling of Three Potent Opioid Compounds, Press Release Number 26-971, August 25, 2026.
2. Federal Register, Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of Mitragynine Pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16 in Schedule I, DEA temporary scheduling order, Docket No. DEA-1644, FR Doc. 2026-17429, publication date August 26, 2026.
3. Federal Register, Schedules of Controlled Substance: Temporary Placement of 7-Hydroxymitragynine Above a Specified Threshold in Schedule I, DEA notice of intent, Docket No. DEA-1570, July 6, 2026.
4. Federal Register, Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of Mitragynine Pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16 in Schedule I, DEA notice of intent, July 6, 2026.
5. The Kratom Council, DEA Schedules Three 7-OH Analogs Effective Tomorrow, August 25, 2026. Disclosure: The Kratom Council is a kratom industry news publication owned and operated by NWB Distribution LP, the company that also operates NuWave Botanicals.