Is Kratom Legal?

Kratom is illegal in 2021 in the following countries: Malaysia and Burma (aka Myanmar). In other countries, kratom is not outright banned, but controlled. This is often done by requiring those who sell kratom to be licensed and/or by regulating the purchase of kratom by requiring prescriptions that can be viewed as something akin to medical marijuana in the United States. These countries include Finland, Denmark, Romania, Germany and New Zealand.

In the United States, the only States where kratom is illegal are Indiana, Wisconsin, Alabama, Arkansas, and Rhode Island.

In addition, Thailand recently in 2021 repealed its 80 year ban on kratom that was introduced in the 1940s when kratom was found to impede their illicit, yet thriving, opium trade. They have determined this plant which grows naturally there can do far less harm than the meth and narcotic epidemic they are working to resolve with natural remedies, and in my opinion, have righted an extreme wrong in policy.