7-OH threshold: HHS reopens the comment window until September 10

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) at HHS has extended the public comment period on where to set the 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) threshold for a proposed temporary Schedule I scheduling order, pushing the deadline from July 31 to September 10, 2026.

Anyone who wants to weigh in can still do so: comments go to docket HHS-OASH-2026-0232 at regulations.gov, and the window that had been due to close July 31 is now open through September 10 [1][2]. HHS granted the extension after receiving a request for more time to prepare comments [1]. The scope stays narrow — OASH says it is not asking for input on permanent scheduling, on the general safety or usefulness of kratom-derived products, or on anything beyond where the numeric threshold for temporary scheduling should sit [2]. Whatever comes in goes from the Secretary for Health and Human Services to the Attorney General for consideration [2].

This docket has not moved 7-OH's legal status. This is a comment period on a request for information, not an order. The Drug Enforcement Administration has said it intends to issue a temporary order placing 7-OH above a specified threshold into Schedule I, but as of this comment extension it had not yet issued that order [2]. Until it does, 7-OH's status is unchanged by this docket.

The thresholds under discussion, for reference, are the ones DEA proposed in July: more than 0.050% 7-OH by dry weight in botanical Mitragyna speciosa material, and more than 0.050% weight/weight, weight/volume, or volume/volume — or more than 1.00 milligram in the article — for synthetic or derived products [2]. Those numbers are proposals under discussion, not controls in effect.

Procedurally, this remains a request-for-information stage: HHS is gathering input to pass along to the Attorney General, and DEA has signaled where it intends to go but has not yet issued the order [2].

References

1. Request for Information: Temporary Placement of 7-Hydroxymitragynine above a Specified Threshold in Schedule I — Federal Register (public inspection)
2. Temporary Placement of 7-Hydroxymitragynine Above a Specified Threshold in Schedule I; Request for Information — Federal Register