INFORUM · April Baumgarten · September 3, 2026
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
BISMARCK -- Two bills on kratom, including a total ban, easily cleared the first level of approval in the North Dakota Legislature.
The state Senate passed on Thursday, Sept. 3, Senate Bill 2408 with a 46-1 vote during the second day of a special legislative session. The proposed legislation outlaws natural and synthetic kratom.
"There isn't God's kratom and Lucifer's kratom," Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, said. "The drug itself is highly, highly, highly addictive."
The bill will go to the House, which approved on Thursday a bill that would regulate kratom with a 21-year-old purchasing restriction and labeling requirements. That legislation, dubbed House Bill 1628, passed 86-6 and will go to the Senate.
North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong called the special session last month and banned all kratom products for 30 days, starting Aug. 5. Some use natural kratom, a leafy herb that is grown in southeast Asia, for pain management.
Manufacturers use the psychoactive ingredient in kratom, 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), to create synthetic pills and energy shots. Found in trace amounts in natural kratom, 7-OH is highly concentrated in synthetic edibles and can cause opioid-like symptoms, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Armstrong called for a total ban on all kratom products. SB 2408 initially only banned synthetic kratom, but lawmakers amended the bill to create a blanket ban.
The regulation bill calls for licensing and testing to ensure synthetics aren't mixed with natural kratom products. That is expected to cost $3.7 million through 2029, according to a fiscal note attached with HB 1628.
Since kratom is not grown in North Dakota, the state can't trust labels, said Sen. Kristin Roers, R-Fargo. Testing the product would require constant surveillance and cost millions, she said.
"Just because they met the testing requirements one time does not preclude them from changing it once they become approved," she said of kratom companies.
Natural kratom isn't the problem, Sen. Jeffrey Magrum, R-Hazelton, said in opposing a total ban. He compared natural kratom to ibuprofen and aspirin.
"It's very comparable side effects from one to the other," he said. "I don't know why we're trying to ban natural leaf."
Unlike kratom, aspirin is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Sen. Michelle Axtman, a Republican from Bismarck who sponsored SB 2408. Kratom, which was available without regulation in gas stations and smoke shops, is addictive and has been connected to several overdoses in North Dakota, according to Armstrong.
Parents shared stories about their children becoming addicted and dying from a product they thought was natural and safe, Axtman said. Physicians said infants were born with "the worst withdrawal symptoms they have ever seen" after mothers took natural kratom tea while pregnant.
"None of those sound like something that is like aspirin," she said.
The state would not trust natural versions of other controlled substances, Myrdal said.
"It's ludicrous," she said.
Axtman said Montana and Clay and Becker counties in Minnesota also are talking about kratom.
"They are watching North Dakota," she said. "I'd like to make sure we are a leader in this space and that we don't stand in the way of this ban and then become a state that is the dealer to many of this addictive drug."