Is Kratom Legal in Wisconsin?

What law bans kratom in Wisconsin?

Wis. Stat. § 961.14, the state’s Schedule I list. Kratom’s two main alkaloids each have their own paragraph in it: mitragynine at (7)(mk), 7-hydroxymitragynine at (7)(mL).

They were put there by 2013 Wisconsin Act 351, which began as 2013 Senate Bill 325. Sections 30 and 31 of the act created those two paragraphs and did nothing else.

The act was a general update to the drug schedules. It rewrote the synthetic cannabinoid list, rebuilt the bath salts list, added research chemicals, and picked up two kratom alkaloids on the way through. Nothing in it suggests kratom was the point.

Why does everyone say 2014 when the act says 2013?

Because Wisconsin names an act for the session it belongs to, not the year it passes.

The 2013 session ran into 2014. Act 351 was enacted on April 23, 2014 and published on April 24. Wisconsin acts that don’t set their own start date take effect the day after publication, and this one sets none, so the ban began on April 25, 2014.

You’ll find pages giving May 2014, and pages giving a bare 2014 with no act number at all. The act number is the thing to search if you want to read it yourself.

Why is kratom filed as a stimulant in Wisconsin?

Because that’s the subsection the legislature dropped it into, and no other banned state made the same choice.

Wisconsin’s Schedule I is sorted into groups. Subsection (4) holds hallucinogenic substances. Subsection (7) holds stimulants. Kratom’s alkaloids went into subsection (7), next to methcathinone and the bath salts compounds.

Compare that with the rest. Kansas filed the same two alkaloids under opiates. Connecticut and Vermont file them as hallucinogenic. Indiana calls them synthetic drugs. Alabama and Arkansas just list them. Wisconsin is the only one that calls them stimulants.

The label isn’t only a label. Wisconsin’s penalty section reaches Schedule I paragraph by paragraph rather than group by group, and it names some of the stimulant paragraphs by letter. It does not name kratom’s. That is what sets the penalty, and it is not what most pages report.

What does the ban cover?

The alkaloids, anything containing them, and their analogs.

Section 27 of Act 351 rewrote the opening line of subsection (7). It now reaches any material, compound, mixture or preparation holding any quantity of a listed substance. It reaches the precursors, analogs, salts and isomers too.

Any quantity is the phrase that matters. There’s no threshold and no exemption for plant material, so powder, capsules, tablets, extracts, drinks and tea are all inside the ban. The word kratom appears nowhere in the statute, but you can’t have the leaf without the two things on the list.

What are the penalties for kratom in Wisconsin?

Possession is a misdemeanor. Selling is a felony. And unlike almost every other drug in the same section, kratom carries no weight tiers at all.

Possession. Wisconsin’s possession section, Wis. Stat. § 961.41(3g), gives named substances their own paragraphs and sends everything else to paragraph (b), other drugs generally. Kratom’s alkaloids are named in none of the other paragraphs, so (b) is where they land. Paragraph (b) calls it a misdemeanor and sets no penalty of its own. That sends you to Wis. Stat. § 939.61, the state’s default. A fine of up to $500, up to 30 days, or both.

Selling. Manufacturing, distributing or delivering kratom falls under § 961.41(1)(b), the paragraph for Schedule I, II and III nonnarcotic drugs. That’s a Class H felony. It carries up to six years and a fine of up to $10,000. Possessing kratom with intent to deliver is the same.

Cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, LSD, psilocybin, THC and the bath salts compounds all have their own paragraphs in that section, and every one of them steps up by weight. Kratom has none. One gram and one kilogram are the same offense in Wisconsin.

A surcharge sits on top of any fine. Section 961.41(5) adds 75 percent.

You’ll see Wisconsin possession called a Class I felony carrying three and a half years. You’ll also see it called a misdemeanor carrying a year and $1,000. Neither is right. The state’s own bill drafters said it plainly in the analysis attached to a 2023 kratom bill: selling is a Class H felony, possessing is a misdemeanor.

Has anyone tried to undo it?

Once, seriously, and it ran out of session.

Assembly Bill 393 of 2023 would have repealed both paragraphs, taking mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine off Schedule I outright, and put a Kratom Consumer Protection Act in their place.

What the bill would have required of sellers:

A food processing plant license, and product registration with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

A published state registry of the products cleared for sale.

7-hydroxymitragynine held to 1% of the alkaloid composition, and no synthetic alkaloids at all.

Labeling of the alkaloid amounts, and a minimum purchase age of 21.

It was a five-sponsor Republican bill and it got real committee attention. In January 2024 the Legislative Council drafted an amendment to it, adding power for the department to seize and destroy unregistered product. Then the session ended. On April 15, 2024 the bill failed to pass under the resolution that clears the calendar at the close of a Wisconsin session.

Could Wisconsin’s ban change?

It would take the legislature, and nothing else.

Both alkaloids sit in a statute, not on a schedule an agency controls. Wisconsin’s Controlled Substances Board can add substances to Schedule I by rule. Taking a name off a list the legislature wrote is a different matter, and that needs a bill.

No successor to AB 393 was introduced in the 2025-2026 session, and both houses finished floor activity on February 20, 2026. The next legislature convenes in January 2027.

Wisconsin has no Kratom Consumer Protection Act. AB 393 came closer than anything since 2014, then died where most bills die, at the end of a session rather than in a vote against it.

If a successor moves, the legislature’s own site shows it first. Not a store’s website. Ours included.

Can you order kratom online in Wisconsin?

No. The law applies where you are, not where the seller is. Once a package crosses the state line, Wisconsin law is what applies to it.

We don’t ship to Wisconsin. No kratom company that follows the law does.

Is kratom legal in the states around Wisconsin?

In all four, and three of the four spent 2026 arguing about it.

Iowa came closest. House File 2133 would have made kratom a Schedule I hallucinogenic substance and possession a crime, and it passed the Iowa House 69 to 26 on March 17, 2026. The Senate companion never reached a floor vote and the session ended. On September 1, 2026 the governor called for a total ban at a press conference. Iowa is legal and unsettled at once.

Michigan’s bill is the only one left alive. House Bill 5537 would ban manufacturing, selling and distributing kratom, and it passed the Michigan House 56 to 48 on March 18, 2026. It went to the Senate Government Operations Committee on March 24 and has not moved since. A first offense in Michigan would be a misdemeanor carrying up to 90 days. Selling in Wisconsin is a felony carrying six years.

Minnesota tried twice and stopped. Companion bills would have put kratom in Schedule II, and a second pair would have set a minimum age of 21. All four died when the legislature adjourned on May 18, 2026. Minnesota law bars selling kratom to anyone under 18.

Illinois is the one to watch at street level. State law allows kratom and sets a minimum purchase age of 18, and a bill to raise that to 21 has sat in the Rules Committee since March 2026. Meanwhile the local bans keep coming. Naperville voted to ban retail sales in September 2026, joining Winnetka, Plainfield, Bloomington, Ottawa, Seneca, Jerseyville, Alton and Godfrey. Legal at the state line is not the same as legal at the address.

Buying kratom lawfully in Illinois and driving home with it is an offense in Wisconsin. The law changes the moment you cross a state line, and it applies to you where you are, not where you came from. Traveling with kratom covers what that means on the road and in an airport.

Can a city or county in Wisconsin make it legal?

No. Counties and cities can add rules on top of state law. What none of them can do is undo a state ban.

There’s no reliable way to track every local rule in the country. We are not going to pretend there is. If you’re reading this from another state, check your own city and county first.