Massachusetts Retailers Sue to Block Emergency Kratom Ban Before It Takes Effect

Why it matters

The lawsuit tests how far a state health department can go in classifying an entire botanical product as a Schedule I drug through emergency action, a question with implications for kratom regulation nationwide.

The big picture

Massachusetts announced an emergency order on Aug. 13 giving retailers about two weeks to pull all kratom products from shelves, citing dozens of deaths and rising poison center calls. The DEA separately moved last month to schedule 7-hydroxymitragynine and related synthetic compounds federally, but Massachusetts' order goes further by covering the entire kratom plant, not just its concentrated derivatives.

Key findings

• Four retailers, including Jay's Smoke Shop and V & K Smoke Shop, filed suit in Suffolk County Superior Court against DPH Commissioner Robbie Goldstein
• Plaintiffs argue Goldstein lacked authority to place all kratom into Schedule I and didn't meet the state's legal findings required for emergency scheduling
• The order was set to take effect Aug. 28, two days after the state confirmed it had not yet been served with the complaint
• Massachusetts has recorded more than 100 kratom-associated deaths since 2020, per the state order
• The Massachusetts and Rhode Island Poison Center logged about 130 kratom-related calls from January 2021 through July 2026, with this year's volume nearly matching all of 2025

What they say

"I'm doing this because I care a lot about people's health and safety, particularly the health and safety of young people," Gov. Maura Healey said, defending the order. The retailers' lawsuit counters that the order's data "describe long-standing market conditions, essentially flat mortality data, and undifferentiated poison-center and surveillance figures" rather than a sudden emergency.

Bottom line

**A Massachusetts court fight over the state's blanket kratom ban could set a precedent for whether health agencies can use emergency powers to schedule an entire botanical product rather than just its riskiest derivatives.**