Two products can hold exactly the same amount of 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and land on opposite sides of a legal line. One is a syrup, the other a gummy. The reason is arithmetic, not chemistry: regulators now measure solids by the gram and liquids by the milliliter, and the two units don’t behave alike.
That gap matters because a federal rule is close. As of late October 2026, DEA’s temporary order was still pending. The agency’s October 14 notice of intent says it “will be published in the Federal Register on or after November 13, 2026,” and it would bind on the date of publication. Since that could happen any business day after the 13th, search DEA’s recent documents on federalregister.gov before relying on this explainer.
What are the two concentration tests?
Under the October notice, 7-OH and its rearrangement product, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MP), would become Schedule I above one of two concentration lines. For solids, such as powders and capsules, the line is more than 1 mg per gram. For liquids, it’s more than 1 mg per mL. The figure counts 7-OH and MP alone or combined.
A gummy is a solid. A syrup or a liquid shot is a liquid. So each format is judged against its own unit.
And 1 mg/g is a small number. Convert it to a percentage and you get 0.1% by weight, since every 10 mg/g is one percent. Natural leaf carries very little 7-OH. FDA puts it below 2% of the leaf’s alkaloid content. HHS, which recommended the threshold, framed it as a way to tell deliberately enhanced or concentrated products apart from material in line with botanical kratom.
Why can the same amount pass one test and fail the other?
Because a gram and a milliliter don’t hold the same amount of product. A gram measures mass. A milliliter measures volume. How much a milliliter weighs depends on the liquid’s density, and a syrup can weigh more per milliliter than water does.
Here’s a worked example. Every number in it is invented for illustration only. None describes a real product, and none is guidance of any kind.
|
Invented item |
Total 7-OH in the item |
Size of the item |
Concentration |
Line it’s judged against |
|
Solid sample |
12 mg |
10 g |
1.2 mg/g |
Over 1 mg/g |
|
Liquid sample |
12 mg |
15 mL |
0.8 mg/mL |
Under 1 mg/mL |
The same invented 12 mg sits above the solid line in one container and below the liquid line in the other. Now flip the arithmetic. If the liquid sample were reformulated to 9 mL, the 12 mg would work out to about 1.33 mg/mL, which is over the liquid line.
Density adds a second wrinkle. Suppose an invented syrup weighs 1.3 grams per milliliter. A lab that reports it by weight would show a lower mg/g figure than the mg/mL figure from a lab that reports it by volume. At 0.8 mg/mL, that’s roughly 0.62 mg/g. The product hasn’t changed. Only the unit has. None of this offers a way around the rule, though. The notice ties each line to the product’s physical form (solid or liquid preparation), not to whichever unit a lab chooses, and the ratio test applies either way.
So when you compare two products, compare like with like. A gummy’s mg/g figure and a syrup’s mg/mL figure can’t be ranked against each other without the density.
Does the ratio test care about format?
No. This is the part a unit comparison can hide. The notice’s second test compares two numbers: how much mitragynine a product has against how much 7-OH it has, with any MP counted on the 7-OH side. If mitragynine isn’t at least 100 times that combined 7-OH figure, the product is caught. Meeting that test is enough on its own, whatever the concentration.
Ratios cancel out units. Mitragynine and 7-OH are measured in the same sample, so it doesn’t matter whether the lab reports in mg/g or mg/mL. A syrup that sits at an invented 0.5 mg/mL, comfortably below the liquid line, still falls inside the order if it contains less than 100 times as much mitragynine as 7-OH.
Don’t conflate the two compounds. Mitragynine dominates the leaf’s alkaloid profile, while 7-OH is a distinct minor constituent. The ratio test exists to catch products where 7-OH has been concentrated relative to its natural partner.
What does Florida’s rule say about liquids?
Florida got there first. Since August 18, 2026, the Attorney General’s emergency rule 2ER26-2 has scheduled 7-OH in any solid carrying more than 1 mg per gram, and in any liquid over 1 mg per milliliter. The rule makes clear that drinks and tinctures sit in the liquid category. Its ratio test matches DEA’s: under 100 parts mitragynine for each part 7-OH, and the product is scheduled.
The Florida 7-OH emergency rule goes further than the federal notice in one respect. It schedules the lab-made derivatives MGM-15 and MGM-16 at any amount. A third compound, 7-acetoxymitragynine, is also covered with no threshold.
Florida’s version has a shelf life, though. It’s the latest in a run of five emergency rules on 7-OH that Florida issued over a 12-month span ending in August 2026. Under s. 893.035(9), a reported emergency rule expires the following June 30 unless it’s codified, which on one reading points to June 30, 2027. Selling any kratom product to someone under 21 is also a second-degree misdemeanor in Florida under s. 500.92.
How do you check which unit a lab used?
Start with the certificate of analysis (COA) for the exact batch. The certificate only speaks for the sample that was tested, so its lot number should match what’s printed on the bottle or pouch. Then look at the units column before you look at any result.
If you’re reading a 7-OH lab report for a syrup or shot, confirm that results appear in mg/mL, or that the lab states a density if it reports in mg/g. For gummies, check that results are in mg/g or percent by weight. Look for an MP result too. A panel without MP can’t supply the MP figure that the federal ratio test adds to the 7-OH side.
Two notations are easy to misread. “ND” means the compound was below the lab’s limit of detection, not that it was absent. “<LOQ” means it was detected but couldn’t be measured precisely. It’s also worth searching the A2LA and ANAB directories for the lab’s name to see whether it holds ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation.
What this can’t settle yet
DEA hasn’t said which lab method it would rely on, or how it would pick samples to test. Measurement uncertainty and ND results go unaddressed too. A product sitting near either line could test on different sides depending on those choices, and only a final order or later guidance can close that gap.
My view is that the liquid line is the one more products will misjudge, simply because a dense liquid reported by weight shows a smaller number than the same liquid reported by volume. This explainer isn’t legal advice. But one step is open to anyone right now: before you rely on a format’s numbers, open the DEA’s agency page on federalregister.gov and check whether a final order under docket DEA-1570 has appeared.