{"id":71680,"date":"2026-06-22T19:09:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T23:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=71680"},"modified":"2026-06-22T19:09:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T23:09:48","slug":"florida-expands-chemical-ban-on-synthetic-kratom-warning-bad-actors-face-30-year-prison-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/06\/22\/florida-expands-chemical-ban-on-synthetic-kratom-warning-bad-actors-face-30-year-prison-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida expands chemical ban on synthetic kratom, warning bad actors face 30-year prison terms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier speaks during a press conference on June 22, 2026. (Photo\/Uthmeier X)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has significantly tightened restrictions on 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH)<\/strong>, a highly concentrated alkaloid extracted from the kratom plant.<\/sup> While standard, unadulterated botanical kratom remains legal statewide (excluding local bans like Sarasota County), the state is aggressively cracking down on concentrated, semi-synthetic “smoke shop” variations that officials argue mimic prescription opioids.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state’s updated emergency rule targets manufacturers trying to exploit loopholes in the original 2025 ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Details of the Regulation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Strict Ratios:<\/strong> Finished products cannot contain more than 1 milligram of 7-OH per gram<\/strong>. Furthermore, the product must contain at least 100 times more mitragynine<\/strong> (the primary natural alkaloid in kratom) than 7-OH to ensure it remains a natural botanical profile rather than a concentrated extract.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Schedule I Classification:<\/strong> Florida treats isolated or illicitly concentrated 7-OH in the same legal category as heroin and fentanyl analogs, determining it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Severe Penalties:<\/strong> Under Florida’s controlled substance trafficking laws, manufacturers, distributors, or retailers caught producing or selling these banned synthetic compounds face first-degree felony charges, carrying maximum sentences of up to 30 years in prison<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    The State’s Stance:<\/strong> Florida officials state that while traditional kratom leaf products are permitted under the Florida Kratom Consumer Protection Act, highly concentrated 7-OH extracts are essentially “vape shop morphine” marketed to young adults and present a severe risk of addiction and overdose<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has significantly tightened restrictions on 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), a highly concentrated alkaloid extracted from the kratom plant. While standard, unadulterated botanical kratom remains legal statewide (excluding… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDZcL1VudGl0bGVkLWRlc2lnbi0yMDI2LTA2LTIyVDEyMjUwOS4xNjgtNzY4eDUxMi0xLndlYnA_Zml0PTc2OCUyQzUxMiZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkZsb3JpZGEgZXhwYW5kcyBjaGVtaWNhbCBiYW4gb24gc3ludGhldGljIGtyYXRvbSwgd2FybmluZyBiYWQgYWN0b3JzIGZhY2UgMzAteWVhciBwcmlzb24gdGVybXMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.df-twnnSnh1-vbkrh6l1cIUpAJkSFeTCKw6AFoEyA-QMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA2XC9VbnRpdGxlZC1kZXNpZ24tMjAyNi0wNi0yMlQxMjI1MDkuMTY4LTc2OHg1MTItMS53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiRmxvcmlkYSBleHBhbmRzIGNoZW1pY2FsIGJhbiBvbiBzeW50aGV0aWMga3JhdG9tLCB3YXJuaW5nIGJhZCBhY3RvcnMgZmFjZSAzMC15ZWFyIHByaXNvbiB0ZXJtcyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.osgShZFac53DMqzKCSgRGHc8kTMKe_YMsvw24AoswlUMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[14953,14954],"class_list":["post-71680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-florida-expands-chemical-ban-on-synthetic-kratom","tag-warning-bad-actors-face-30-year-prison-terms"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71682,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71680\/revisions\/71682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}