Fresno city and county leaders are targeting kratom, a plant that is native to Southeast Asia with a long history of use as a stimulant, with proposed regulations that would either ban or severely prohibit its sale.
If those would-be laws are approved in December, Fresno and Fresno County would become the two largest jurisdictions in the San Joaquin Valley to limit the availability of kratom products, in addition to Kern County and some of its cities.
But in the respective laws introduced the week before Thanksgiving, the Fresno City Council and Fresno County Board of Supervisors are taking significantly different approaches to kratom, a botanical relative of the coffee plant, and its concentrated alkaloid derivative 7-hydroymitragynine, popularly known as 7-OH.
The city of Fresno proposes to ban sales of all kratom products, while Fresno County plans to allow sales of natural-leaf kratom and highly restrict retail sales of concentrated 7-OH products.
“At low doses, kratom produces stimulant effects, with users reporting increased alertness, physical energy, talkativeness, and sociable behavior,” according to an Oct. 2025 evaluation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “At high doses, kratom’s opioid effects include sedation and euphoria.”
7-OH and other unregulated, concentrated or synthetic opioids or psychoactive compounds are sometimes known by the nickname “gas station heroin” – a moniker that reflects both their opioid characteristics and widespread availability at smoke shops, convenience stores and other retail outlets.
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted on Nov. 18 to ban sales of kratom and 7-OH to anyone under the age of 21. Banned entirely would be sales of 7-OH with concentrations greater than the 2% typically found in natural kratom leaves. But sales of kratom leaf products would continue to be allowed to persons 21 and older.
Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who represents much of eastern Fresno County, originally proposed a much broader restriction, but rolled that back following testimony from advocates during the Nov. 18 board meeting. The revised ordinance, which will come back for either a reintroduction or a final vote in December, would affect unincorporated areas of Fresno County but would not apply to businesses in any of the county’s 15 incorporated cities.
“One of the reasons that I wanted to bring this item forward with our public health department is because there are a number of young people, as well as adults, that are being affected by kratom and some who are passing away from it,” Magsig said in remarks following the board’s initial vote.
“We basically are not only protecting kids, but also banning 7-OH concentration levels above 2%,” Magsig added. “That is a synthesized kratom element which causes significant harm.”
Two days after the board’s vote, the Fresno City Council voted 6-1 for a law spearheaded by Councilmembers Nelson Esparza and Tyler Maxwell that would outright ban the manufacture, distribution or sale of “novel psychoactive drugs” including the active compounds mitragynine and 7-OH found in kratom, with no apparent exceptions for natural kratom leaf products. That law, if ultimately approved when the council next meets on Dec. 4, would only apply within the city of Fresno.
The city council’s vote came after comments by some of the same advocates who addressed the county supervisors earlier in the week
Esparza, in a joint press conference with Magsig, noted that kratom is not covered by existing state and federal laws, leaving local cities and counties to take up the slack.
“If the state and federal governments can’t move quickly enough, then the cities and the counties here must,” Esparza said. “The city’s ordinance is a targeted and proactive response to those vendors that are exploiting the gaps in state and federal law in a way that directly endangers our public health here within the city and the county.”
A random check on Nov. 25 of a half-dozen smoke shops in the Fresno-Clovis area revealed that kratom is apparently widely available in the area ahead of the prospective prohibitions. But the counter or shelf space devoted to the product varies wildly from one shop to another – from about eight square feet under a glass counter at one place in west-central Fresno to nearly a full 30-foot wall filled with jars of kratom powder and capsules as well as liquid “shots” of kratom extract and 7-0H at a Clovis store about a mile east of California State University, Fresno.
Managers and employees of the stores did not wish to comment on the proposed city and county ordinances.
Health concerns over kratom and 7-OH
Kratom has no authorized use under the federal Food and Drug Administration as either a drug, a supplement or a food additive. But that does little to hamper its broad availability and use.
Dr. Rais Vohra, interim public health officer for Fresno County, described kratom and especially 7-OH as “unregulated, unpredictable and underappreciated as a true cause of harm.”
Vohra, who is also a toxicologist and medical director with the Fresno-Madera Division of the California Poison Control System, said kratom use can lead to seizure disorders, liver failure, addiction and, in some instances, death from overdose. He added that many of the people who are drawn to kratom already have some condition which they seek to remedy.
“A lot of people are just kind of taking their own initiative, to ‘experiment’ or self medicate with it, to treat, you know, legitimate problems” including chronic pain, addiction to alcohol or narcotics, anxiety, depression or other conditions, Vohra said.
However, he added, “there’s really no medical indication for kratom, and I don’t know any clinic or doctors that are ‘prescribing’ it. I know people are using it as a medicine, but they’re really just kind of gambling with the safety, just because it’s really not true medicine or pharmaceutical.”
Because kratom and 7-OH are unregulated, “you really don’t know what you’re buying when you buy a sachet of tea leaves or even a capsule that’s full of powder,” Vohra said. “We really don’t know what you’re getting your hands on, and so in that sense you’re gambling, and that’s the story with all street drugs.”
Advocates say kratom is beneficial
Fresno County resident Rich Greaves told county supervisors that he’s used kratom for about five years after he found himself “addicted” to energy drinks and losing his hair as a result.
“The kratom leaf allowed me to stop drinking energy drinks and to continue my pursuit of being healthy,” Greaves said. “The use of that actually helped me and my sister cut alcohol completely out of our life, and over the course of about three years, my hair grew back.”
Steven Kruckenberg, owner of Trinity Gym in Fresno, told county leaders that he opposed an outright ban on kratom, but “fully support regulation, age limits, testing, labelling, oversight that makes sense and protects consumers.”
Kruckenberg said heavy consumption of caffeine, energy drinks and coffee is common before training workouts.
“When I discovered kratom, I approached it cautiously and responsibly,” he said. “To my surprise, it offered something I had never experienced from caffeine: a calmer, smoother sense of focus and well-being, without the jitters, without the crash, without feeling wired or overstimulated.”
Allison Smith, the Washington-based director of government affairs for the Global Kratom Coalition, told the Fresno City Council that natural kratom leaf products are “responsibly used by approximately 23 million Americans and 3 million Californians.”
Concentrated 7-OH products, by contrast, “are dangerous, they are addictive and they are killing people,” Smith said when she addressed Fresno County supervisors.
Ryan Sherman, legislative advocate for the California Narcotics Officers Association, testified to both the Fresno County Board of Supervisors and the Fresno City Council. He told the City Council that the organization concurred with Smith that “we’re here in support of any measure that would ban 7-OH.”
But, he added, “we don’t see that kratom is an issue, at least with our organization, our members. … We don’t see the big issues with kratom that we’ve seen with 7-OH.”
Those remarks echo the sentiments he expressed to county supervisors earlier in the week. “To be clear, CNOA is not seeking a ban on natural kratom, as that product does not pose a deadly threat to our communities, as does 7-OH.”
Federal regulations on kratom?
The DEA notes that kratom is not a controlled substance or listed chemical under the federal Controlled Substances Act. The U.S. government currently has no regulations in place governing the sale of kratom or its concentrated derivative 7-OH, but that could change soon.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared its intention to ask the DEA to add 7-OH to a list of products under the Controlled Substances Act. But that announcement pointedly noted that the action was not aimed at natural kratom leaf products.
“Vape stores are popping up in every neighborhood in America, and many are selling addictive products like concentrated 7-OH, …” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said in July. “7-OH is an opioid that can be more potent than morphine. We need regulation and public education to prevent another wave of the opioid epidemic.”
In August 2016, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration announced its intention to list kratom and 7-OH under Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, but reversed its decision just two months later.
Schedule 1 is the most restrictive of five categories under the CSA. According to the DEA, Schedule 1 “drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Those include heroin; LSD; marijuana; 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, better known as Molly or Ecstasy; methaqualone or Quaaludes; and peyote.
State regulations on kratom?
Assembly Bill 1088, a bill currently working its way through the California Legislature in Sacramento, proposes to regulate kratom and 7-OH products under the Sherman Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law.
AB 1088 would prohibit sales to anyone under 21, prohibit packaging that is attractive to children, and prohibit sales or distribution of kratom or 7-OH products with a concentration of 7-hydroymitragynine that is greater than 2% of the total kratom alkaloids in the product. The law would also require the packaging to be child resistant.
“As a physician specializing in addiction treatment, I have grown increasingly concerned about the use of Kratom and especially its derivative 7-OH. We have reached the point that state and federal regulators can no longer ignore these products,” said Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, D-Bakersfield, the author of AB 1088 and a doctor who specializes in addiction.
“Until the federal government does its job, California must act to protect our residents and especially our children,” Bains added. “AB 1088 is a reasonable first step to age-gate these products as we consider additional regulatory protections to put in
place.”
In the meantime, the California Department of Public Health declared in October that “foods and other products containing kratom and 7-OH are illegal to sell or manufacture and may result in addiction, serious harm, overdose, and death.”
“Despite their wide availability, these products are illegal to sell and cannot be sold online or in stores,” the state health department advised.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported in October that it has identified six fatal overdoses connected to concentrated 7-OH products.
Regulations in the San Joaquin Valley
It’s uncertain if the Fresno City Council will take steps to modify its proposed law to align with that of Fresno County before it returns for consideration on Dec. 4. Councilmember Nick Richardson, the one councilmember who voted against Esparza’s and Maxwell’s ordinance, said he will press for such changes.
“What I would like to see is no action illegalizing possession of regular kratom,” Richardson told the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. “But when it comes to us restricting the artificially distilled 7-OH, that is something we can restrict because it has opioid characteristics.”
Richardson likened a broad-brush ban on kratom, particularly the natural-leaf product, to throwing the proverbial “baby out with the bathwater.”
“What we’re seeing is that people don’t understand the chemistry behind it,” he added, likening the difference between natural kratom and artificially concentrated 7-OH to a comparison of cannabidiol or CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Both CBD and THC are derived from marijuana plants, but THC is the compound responsible for the psychoactive high of marijuana.
“If you don’t understand it, both are ‘the devil,’ but they are two different things,” Richardson said, adding that the city’s ordinance, as introduced, is a reaction akin to “It’s scary, so let’s make it illegal.”
Michael Seley, Esparza’s policy director, said several proposals to amend the ordinance are being reviewed. Esparza, Seley said, “stands by the ordinance while acknowledging that there are limited circumstances in which loose-leave kratom has been beneficial for some, which is why we are carefully evaluating the proposed policy changes to see if they align with Councilmember Esparza’s priorities.”
Seley added that if the ordinance does get amended on Dec. 4, a final approval and adoption would be up for a vote on Dec. 18.
Among Valley counties, only Kern County and some of its cities appear to have regulations that would cover kratom and related products. Michelle Corson, a spokesperson for the Kern County Department of Public Health, told CVJC that a 2015 ordinance that prohibits the sale or use of a range of psychoactive and synthetic drugs “includes kratom-derived or kratom-alkaloid products under its scope.”
Corson reported that the Kern County cities of Arvin, California City, Delano, McFarland, Shafter, Taft, Tehachapi and Wasco adopted similar ordinances.
In Madera County, public health officer Dr. Simon Paul said he is not aware of any efforts by the county or its cities to take steps to regulate kratom or 7-OH beyond the state’s declaration that it is illegal to sell kratom in stores or online.
Kings County has no regulations specific to kratom or kratom-derived products, said RoseMary Raun, the county’s director of public health.
In the northern part of the San Joaquin Valley, San Joaquin County Public Health Services said in a statement to CVJC that the agency “is not actively pursuing any additional restrictions on kratom other than the guidance provided by the California Department of Public Health to warn consumers about its use and risk of harm, and to observe and report any sale of the products in local retail settings.”
“As far as we know, no cities in the county are pursuing any further restrictions,” the agency’s statement added.
Officials with health departments in Merced, Stanislaus and Tulare counties did not respond to CVJC’s request for information on local kratom regulations. A search of online databases of ordinances in each of those counties turned up no laws that mention kratom or kratom products by name.
Tim Sheehan is a senior reporter and Health Care Reporting Fellow at the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. The fellowship is supported by a grant from the Fresno State Institute for Media and Public Trust. Contact Sheehan at tim@cvlocaljournalism.org.
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