Kratom banned in North Dakota, special session set for September
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Smokes 4 Less in Fargo is stocked full with a rainbow of colorful products like vapes, pipes and bongs. But one shelf, deep in the store, is completely bare.
It’s been that way since last Wednesday, when North Dakota’s ban on kratom took effect.
Kratom is a substance derived from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree. Sold in a wide range of products such as pills, beverages and powders, people use it recreationally and to help with pain. Some also say it helps treat their mental health problems.
But kratom-related calls to North Dakota’s Poison Control tripled last year, from seven in 2024 to 22 in 2025, according to reporting from the North Dakota Monitor.
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North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong and Attorney General Drew Wrigley announced a ban on kratom products Aug. 3, citing the “addictive dangerous, and potentially deadly nature of kratom.”
Other states, including Kansas and Tennessee banned kratom products outright earlier this summer. Minnesota’s new regulations on kratom products raise the purchase age from 18 to 21.
The executive order highlights the state’s different approaches to products derived from natural kratom leaf and synthetic, concentrated products containing higher doses of a compound called 7-hydroxymitragynine or 7-OH.
The governor signed an emergency rule from North Dakota’s Board of Pharmacy that classifies 7-OH as a Schedule I drug, echoing a temporary federal action from the Drug Enforcement Agency.
The rule is valid for 180 days and triggers a rulemaking process. At the same time, the sale, use and possession of all kratom products has been banned by an emergency order that is effective for thirty days, according to Armstrong.
A special legislative session is set for early September where lawmakers will propose and vote on permanent regulation or prohibition.
Lawmaker reactions in Fargo
Fargo-area lawmakers said they’ve been hearing a lot from their constituents since the ban’s announcement.
“I hear from constituents or other people that live in my state that tote the benefits of kratom to PTSD or other mental health issues,” said Rep. Austin Foss, a Democrat in Fargo. “But then on the other side of that, I've had people reach out to me saying really terrible stories, [of] their son overdosing on kratom and how it is a very addictive drug and how it should be banned.”
Fargo lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said some regulation is necessary, as kratom has largely been legally available without regulations or age restrictions.
“The ban should be for the synthetic version,” said Sen. Michelle Powers, R-Fargo. “All synthetic versions should probably be banned and put an age limit on the purchasing of [natural] kratom.”
But both Foss and Powers disagreed with the governor’s emergency order and said the issue could’ve been tackled during the next regular legislative session.
“There is really no emergency on it, as far as I'm concerned,” Powers said. “We have far more deaths from alcohol than we do from kratom, and we're never, ever, ever going to ban alcohol.”
But Kyle Davison, a Republican representing south Fargo, thinks it was the right call. He said he and other lawmakers still need more education and information before making a decision on how to regulate kratom.
“He's putting a short-term stop to it … so that we can wrap our arms around it,” he said. “I think we'll learn together during the session.”
Regardless of what regulations lawmakers decide on, they might not be as effective in Fargo since people over 21 can easily head across the Red River to buy or consume Kratom in Moorhead, Minn.
“Whether we ban it or not might not matter in the long run,” Foss said.
It's a longstanding dynamic, Powers said, that has also surfaced around marijuana and alcohol sales, which Minnesota and North Dakota regulate differently
“Minnesota, a long time ago the alcohol was sold at 19, and everybody went over there,” she said. “It's nothing new under the sun. People will go wherever they can get it. We can't regulate every state.”
Foss said he’d support some sort of collaboration with Minnesota lawmakers to compromise and align laws across border cities, but thinks it's unlikely that’d ever happen.
“Historically, we have not been very cooperative with the state to the east of us, Minnesota, because a lot of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle really see us as an anti-Minnesota state,” he said.
And that might be a boon for shops on the Moorhead side, even if they don’t sell Kratom. Gabriel Hernandez is general manager at Beezwax Dispensary in Moorhead and said he’s expecting more marijuana customers because of North Dakota’s kratom ban.
“The majority of my customers come in, they say they're trying to treat pain,” he said. “So I absolutely think anyone who's trying to treat something non-medically, we’ll see more business from them, especially if their preferred becomes unavailable, i.e. kratom, which is very popular in the area.”
