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Sunday, October 11, 2026

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Justice · Sunday, October 11, 2026

DEA restarts its emergency move against concentrated 7-OH opioid products

The File desk · Oct 11, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

Status

Confirmed as an announcement, Justice Department release No. 26-1165, Oct. 9, 2026. The new notices were not yet in the Federal Register.

  • Confirmed

    The department said the Drug Enforcement Administration will issue new notices of intent to place 7-OH and MGPI in

    , using thresholds meant to spare ordinary kratom products.

  • Confirmed

    The notices themselves were not in the Federal Register pull through Oct. 13.

7-OH, or 7-hydroxymitragynine, is an opioid that occurs naturally in small amounts in the plant kratom. The Justice Department said Friday that the Drug Enforcement Administration will issue new notices of its intent to place 7-OH, and a related substance called MGPI, in

, the most restricted drug category. The new notice uses Health and Human Services thresholds meant to spare ordinary kratom products. It would cover products with more than 1 milligram per gram, or per milliliter, of the substances, or with too little of the plant's natural alkaloid relative to them. Two related opioids, MGM-15 and MGM-16, stay banned on an emergency basis while a new 30-day notice runs. The notices were not yet published.

The department says the DEA temporarily placed MGPI, MGM-15, and MGM-16 in

on Aug. 26, 2026, and that those controls stay in effect. 7-OH had no temporary order yet. The control applies when either substance, or both combined, exceeds 1 milligram per gram in solid products or 1 milligram per milliliter in liquid products, or when the ratio of mitragynine to 7-OH, MGPI, or their combined amount is less than 100 to 1. The release is No. 26-1165.

Attorney General Blanche said dangerous and addictive opioids do not belong behind convenience-store counters. That is his description of where concentrated products are sold. This desk did not separately survey stores. The

power is a DEA authority to ban a substance quickly, for a limited time, after a 30-day notice. When those 30-day clocks start depends on publication. The notices were not in the Federal Register pull through Oct. 13.

What is still unknown or disputed

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Department of Justice Announces Updates to Emergency Scheduling Actions for 7-OH and Related Opioid Substances

    U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs · October 9, 2026

    The Department of Justice today announced updated emergency scheduling actions targeting 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and three potent opioid substances related to 7-OH: mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI), MGM-15, and MGM-16.

    https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-announces-updates-emergency-scheduling-actions-7-oh-and-related-opioid