The Government Filed to Develop a Prescription Kratom Replacement. 30 Days Later It Moved to Schedule the Plant.

On June 1, 2026, the National Institutes of Health announced that its Investigational New Drug application for purified mitragynine had taken effect with the FDA. Thirty days later, the DEA moved to schedule 7-hydroxymitragynine and three synthetic derivatives as Schedule I controlled substances. Both actions trace back to the same federal department. This is not a coincidence. It is a sequence.