Louisiana Puts Three Synthetic Kratom Opioids on Schedule I, and Retail Sales Stop Nov. 16

Baton Rouge — Louisiana has placed three synthetic opioids derived from kratom on the state's Schedule I list and is moving separately to stop their sale over the counter, an unusually explicit step at a moment when federal agencies are still issuing notices of intent about the same compounds.

The Department of Health announced the emergency rule on Oct. 19. It names mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 (also called dihydro-7-hydroxymitragynine) and MGM-16 (9-fluoro-dihydro-7-hydroxymitragynine), and adds them to Schedule I of Louisiana's controlled dangerous substances law — the category for drugs with a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use and no accepted safety under medical supervision.

Scheduling is only half of it. A separate "dangerous substance stop order" prohibits the sale, distribution, manufacture or dispensing of the same three substances; notice of intent ran in the Advocate on Oct. 17 and 18, and the order takes effect Nov. 16 unless the Legislature's oversight committee rejects it.

Two instruments, two different clocks

The emergency rule uses the rulemaking authority the Legislature gave the secretary of health under R.S. 40:962(C) and (H). Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein signed the declaration after determining that "placing the substances on Schedule I by emergency rule was necessary to avoid an imminent peril to the public health, safety, or welfare"; the rule is codified at LAC 46:LIII.2704 and stays in effect, in the department's words, "for the maximum period allowed by law or until a final rule is adopted, whichever occurs first." Its one carve-out: a substance contained in an FDA-approved pharmaceutical product.

The stop order runs through a different statute, R.S. 40:996.1 through 996.7, which lets the department declare a substance "dangerous" and halt its commerce, not just its possession. That route carries a comment period: written comments are due at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 29, requests for oral presentation Oct. 22, and a hearing will be held Nov. 5 if one is requested. If the rule survives legislative oversight it takes effect Nov. 16 and runs through the 60th day after the 2027 regular session adjourns.

Why these three, and not kratom itself

Mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine occur naturally in the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa. The three substances Louisiana just scheduled do not. They are made by chemically modifying purified mitragynine or 7-OH, which is exactly why they escaped the state's existing list.

The department's notice of intent lays out the timeline it is reacting to. The first confirmed appearance of mitragynine pseudoindoxyl in a consumer product was reported in 2024; MGM-15 showed up in commercially available products in September 2025. The packaging follows the designer-drug playbook: labels describing the contents as "sold strictly for laboratory, botanical, and research purposes only" and "not intended for human consumption," with sales spread across the internet rather than confined to one region.

The pharmacology in the state's filing is blunt. Citing the Drug Enforcement Administration, LDH describes all three as potent mu-opioid receptor agonists with a profile similar to 7-OH and morphine, producing analgesia more potent than morphine in preclinical studies, and carrying the same class risks: dependence, respiratory depression, cardiotoxicity, and liver and kidney toxicity. MGM-16 is listed at roughly 240 times morphine's antinociceptive potency in animals, and the department notes a vendor site advertising it for upcoming sale.

What the lab data shows

The numbers behind the filing come from federal surveillance and Louisiana's own investigators, and they describe what is already on shelves.

According to DEA's toxicology testing program, between February 2025 and May 2026 mitragynine pseudoindoxyl was identified in at least 56 overdose cases, 48 of them fatal. From February through April 2026, MGM-15 appeared in 17 overdose cases, 16 of them fatal.

Then the state findings. The Louisiana State Police Crime Lab and the executive director of the Louisiana Poison Center reported to LDH that products labeled as containing mitragynine pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15 are sold statewide at retail locations and online. They also reported the limit that explains the urgency: the lab's toxicology unit does not test for the substances at all, and its seized-drug equipment cannot distinguish them from ordinary mitragynine or 7-OH, so no sample can be definitively confirmed. Since mitragynine and 7-OH went to Schedule I on Aug. 1, 2025, the lab has nonetheless detected one or both in 17 toxicology samples and 17 seized-drug samples.

And one case: at least one recent overdose victim in Lafourche Parish, who tested positive for mitragynine or 7-OH, had a kratom-related product on his person labeled as containing mitragynine pseudoindoxyl.

That is the crux: the compounds were in Louisiana stores and in at least one person who overdosed, and beyond the state lab's power to name. Scheduling them by structure gives prosecutors a charge and gives a stop order something to attach to.

Louisiana was already strict on kratom

The baseline matters, because it changes what this week's action means for a household.

Louisiana already prohibited the sale, distribution, manufacture and dispensing of any substance derived from kratom leaves under R.S. 40:966.1 and R.S. 40:989.2, and it already listed mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine in Schedule I as of Aug. 1, 2025. Most states regulate kratom rather than ban it; NIDA notes that kratom products "are currently legal and accessible in many areas" of the country.

The practical answer for a household: products sold as 7-OH in Louisiana were already covered. Products labeled with the three newer names are covered now, and retail sales become prohibited Nov. 16.

Where the federal picture stands

The federal government is not standing still, but it is moving on a different track.

DEA placed mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16 in Schedule I by temporary order on Aug. 26, 2026. On Oct. 14 it published two notices of intent: one to issue a new temporary order maintaining the placement of MGM-15 and MGM-16, and one to schedule 7-OH and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl above a specified threshold, following a letter HHS sent on Oct. 8 recommending that approach. DEA's own abstract concedes the consequence — the new threshold "would permit certain products to remain in the marketplace without being subject to schedule I controls" — while adding that neither HHS nor DEA has found those substances safe below the threshold.

That is the gap Louisiana closed for itself. We covered the federal threshold in our Oct. 10 alert on the new 7-OH rules, and the practical effect of this week's action is that a product that might stay legal under a federal threshold is now a Schedule I substance in Louisiana.

If someone you love has been using these products

• Do not trust the label. The state's own lab cannot separate these compounds from mitragynine on standard equipment, and products marked "research purposes only" were selling in ordinary retail settings.
• Treat a suspected overdose as an overdose. Pinpoint pupils, slow or shallow breathing, gurgling, unresponsiveness or blue lips mean naloxone if you have it, a call to 911, and staying with the person until help arrives. These are mu-opioid agonists, and naloxone reverses mu-opioid agonists.
• Do not detox alone if you can avoid it. Stopping a daily high-potency kratom product abruptly produces real withdrawal — sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, body aches, anxiety and insomnia — and that is the window when relapse risk is highest. What withdrawal management actually looks like.
• Do not reach for naltrexone on your own. Given too early, it can trigger severe precipitated withdrawal. A prescriber should time it.
• Treatment works, and it is the same treatment. Buprenorphine and methadone are used for opioid use disorder regardless of whether the opioid came from a pharmacy, a street bag or a store packet. How medication-assisted treatment is prescribed, and our family guide to 7-OH dependence for the day-to-day version.
• Where to call. The SAMHSA National Helpline, 1-800-662-4357, is free and runs around the clock. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline takes calls, texts and chats. Poison Help, 1-800-222-1222, reaches your regional poison center.

What happens next

Three dates matter. Oct. 22 is the deadline to request an oral presentation on the stop order; Oct. 29 at 4:30 p.m. is the deadline for written comments to LDH's Food and Drug Unit; Nov. 16 is when the order takes effect, assuming no legislative objection.

After that the state moves to a final rule, and the stop order runs only to the end of the 2027 session. Enforcement meanwhile falls on the same system that cannot yet test for these compounds — worth remembering when a press release and a crime lab tell different stories about how fast anything changes on the ground.

For families the calendar is simpler: check what is in the house now, and if someone has been using it daily, get a clinical assessment before the supply disappears rather than after.