O-desmethyltramadol is Schedule I, 49 days after the notice of intent

O-desmethyltramadol (O-DSMT) is now a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law, effective August 12, 2026 — 49 days after DEA's notice of intent to schedule it on June 24, 2026.

The temporary scheduling order placing it there published August 12, 2026 [1]. That means anyone handling O-DSMT must now be registered with DEA, and possession is unlawful unless specifically authorized under the Controlled Substances Act [1]. This is a change from the period between June 24 and August 12: the June 24 document was a notice of intent, not a scheduling order, and it did not itself change the law [2]. DEA had said at the time that any order would not issue before July 24, 2026 [2]. It has now issued, and the criminal penalties that come with Schedule I status apply from August 12, 2026, not from June [1].

The temporary order is set to stay in effect until August 12, 2028, with the possibility of a one-year extension [1]. O-DSMT has no currently accepted medical use in the United States and is a mu-opioid agonist with a high potential for abuse [2]. It binds opioid receptors far more strongly than tramadol itself (Ki=3.4 nM versus 2400 nM) [2], and reported analgesic-equivalence data put 20 mg of O-DSMT on par with 50 mg of tramadol after chronic dosing at steady state [2]. As of mid-May 2026, NFLIS had logged 147 encounters with the drug across 30 states [1].

O-DSMT has been found mixed into kratom, sold under the name "Krypton" [2][1]. Reports from Sweden describe nine deaths from O-DSMT combined with mitragynine between October 2009 and October 2010 [2]. A German case found roughly 9 mg/L of O-DSMT in the urine of a woman who had used Krypton [2]. In 2021, a 19-year-old man in Kansas City, Kansas, died with O-DSMT at 10.9 ng/mL and mitragynine at 2.7 ng/mL in his blood [2].

This is a temporary scheduling order [1].

References

1. Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of O-Desmethyltramadol in Schedule I — Federal Register
2. Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of O-Desmethyltramadol in Schedule I — Federal Register