Cities Are Banning Kratom Faster Than Washington Can Regulate It

While federal regulators worked through a comment period on a national 7-hydroxymitragynine threshold, city councils in Florida and Washington spent July drafting kratom ordinances of their own. In most cases, they went considerably further than the federal proposal would.

The pattern is consistent across both states. Local officials say they are not willing to wait for a legislature or an agency, and they are using municipal police power to act first. At NuWave Botanicals we track this closely, because a patchwork of city-level rules affects our customers long before any federal order does.

Ocala Directs Staff to Draft a Ban

At its meeting on Tuesday, July 21, the Ocala City Council agreed to move forward with developing an ordinance that would ban the sale of kratom within city limits, WCJB reported. No formal vote was recorded. The council reached a consensus to direct the work forward, and directed the city attorney to draft the ordinance in coordination with Marion County.

Mayor Ben Marciano framed the decision as a refusal to defer to Tallahassee, saying he expects the state to address kratom within a year or two but sees no reason to wait. We have lives that are being lost, he said, according to WCJB.

The council heard suspected overdose reports shared by the Ocala Police Department along with testimony from residents. One speaker cited 3,672 suspected kratom-related overdose EMS encounters statewide between January 2023 and April 2026. Those figures were presented in public comment and have not been independently verified here, and suspected encounters are not the same as established causes.

City Attorney William Sexton told the council he had reviewed a draft ordinance produced by the county, which would attach code enforcement authority to revoke a certificate of occupancy for a business selling kratom. Ocala can adopt that approach or write its own.

Washington Cities Move in Sequence

In Washington, activity has concentrated in Grant County. On the night of Wednesday, July 1, the Ephrata City Council voted 6-1 to prohibit the sale, distribution and advertising of kratom and kratom-derived products inside city limits, the Columbia Basin Herald reported. That made Ephrata the fourth city in Grant County to adopt such restrictions, and the first in the county to do so while businesses were actively selling the product.

The ordinance takes effect 60 days after passage. Violations are treated as civil infractions on an escalating schedule: $248.05 for a first violation, $530.95 for a second, and $1,293.55 for a third or subsequent violation, with possible revocation or denial of a business license.

Grant County Health Officer Dr. Alexander Brzezny told the council that many products on shelves are poorly labeled and may contain additives that are difficult to identify without laboratory testing.

The lone dissenting vote came from Councilmember Matt Moore, who objected to the mechanism rather than the goal. He said he supported what the health district was trying to do, but that this is not the direction regulation is normally meant to go. He also said he would hesitate to expedite the measure without hearing from retailers or consumers.

Moses Lake Weighs Two Versions

Thirteen days later, on July 14, the Moses Lake City Council took up the question with two competing drafts in front of it, according to the Herald. One would ban kratom sales, distribution and advertising outright with civil penalties attached. The other would permit sales but prohibit purchase or receipt by anyone under 21.

City Administrator Rob Karlinsey cautioned that nothing was being decided that night, and that the council would provide direction and not formally adopt anything. The discussion was initiated by the Grant County Health District and the county health officer, the same office that appeared before Ephrata's council two weeks earlier.

Why Cities Are Acting Alone

The legal basis for this wave is straightforward, and a May analysis by the Municipal Research and Services Center laid it out. Writing for MRSC on May 11, Linda Gallagher noted that Washington cities are relying on Article XI, Section 11 of the state constitution, which authorizes a local government to make and enforce local police, sanitary and other regulations that do not conflict with general laws.

That authority becomes decisive because there is nothing at the state level to conflict with. The Washington State Legislature did not pass kratom-related bills in 2026, leaving no state statute prohibiting or regulating the botanical, and therefore no state framework preempting a municipal one.

The ordinances already on the books before July include Spokane, Spokane Valley, Cheney, Cle Elum and Othello, along with the Grant County cities of Warden, Royal City, Mattawa and now Ephrata. The Grant County Board of Health passed a resolution in May urging cities, towns and county commissioners to adopt restrictions until state or federal rules exist.

The Retail Objection

Retailers subject to these ordinances have raised process and economic concerns. Henry Abdel, owner of Empire Smoke Shop in Ephrata, told the Herald that the city did not communicate the ban to affected businesses before passing it, and that he expects a direct hit to sales that could put his lease and his business at risk. He also said most of his kratom customers are older adults.

The Ephrata ordinance was approved on an expedited schedule, adopted on first reading rather than going through the city's usual two-reading process. That compressed the window in which businesses could respond before the vote.

Wider Than the Federal Proposal

The scope gap between these local rules and the federal action is significant. The DEA's