Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is not a controlled substance in Canada. It does not appear in any schedule of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, so having it is not a criminal offence. Selling it for people to swallow, brew or otherwise ingest is a different matter. Health Canada has never licensed a kratom product, and any product sold for its effects on the body is treated as an unauthorized drug or natural health product under the Food and Drugs Act. The result is a grey market. Personal possession is not prosecuted, but sellers who market kratom as consumable face seizures, recalls and border refusals.

Which laws actually apply?

Three federal instruments determine kratom’s status in Canada:

• Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Kratom, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine are not scheduled. No criminal possession or trafficking offence applies.
• Food and Drugs Act and Food and Drug Regulations. A product that is sold or represented for use in modifying a bodily function, such as relieving pain, raising energy or easing withdrawal, meets the legal definition of a drug. It cannot be sold without authorization.
• Natural Health Products Regulations. Herbal products need a product licence and a Natural Product Number (NPN) before they can be sold. Kratom has never received one. You can check this yourself in the Licensed Natural Health Products Database.

The law targets the sale, not the leaf. This is why Canadian vendors label kratom “not for human consumption” or sell it as incense, botanical specimens or “research material.” Health Canada judges a product by how it is presented and used, so the label does not change its status.

What does enforcement look like?

Health Canada acts against sellers, not users. Its tools are inspections of retail and online sellers, product seizures, and public advisories naming unauthorized kratom products. Those advisories appear in the federal Recalls and Safety Alerts database, which you can search for “kratom” to see current entries.

Since 2023, natural health products have been covered by the stronger enforcement powers in the Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act (Vanessa’s Law). Those powers include mandatory recalls and fines that can run into the millions of dollars. Before 2023, NHP enforcement was much weaker, so older articles describing a relaxed regulatory “waltz” are out of date.

Can I import kratom for personal use?

No rule explicitly permits it, and shipments get stopped. The Canada Border Services Agency enforces the Food and Drugs Act at the border for Health Canada. Parcels of kratom powder, capsules or extracts can be detained, refused or destroyed.

What happens to a given parcel depends on the form of the product, the quantity, and whether the packaging or invoice makes health claims. Small parcels of plain leaf often arrive. Capsules, “extract shots” and anything labelled with dosing instructions are much more likely to be held. Arrival is never guaranteed, and refunds depend entirely on the vendor.

What changed since 2024?

The biggest change is concentrated 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH). This alkaloid occurs naturally in only trace amounts, but gas stations and online shops now sell semi-synthetic, high-potency 7-OH tablets. In 2025 the U.S. FDA recommended that 7-OH be scheduled under federal drug law, separately from whole-leaf kratom. Its kratom page tracks the status, and several U.S. states have moved to ban 7-OH products.

In Canada, 7-OH products are already illegal to sell as unauthorized drugs. Health Canada can also add a substance to the CDSA schedules by regulation. Check the current schedules rather than relying on any article, including this one.

Two claims in many older sources are wrong:

• “Kratom is legal to buy and consume in Canada.” Possession is not a crime, but no business can lawfully sell it for consumption.
• “Kratom is generally safe when used responsibly.” The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse documents dependence, withdrawal, liver injury and deaths. Many of those deaths involved other substances taken at the same time. Unlicensed products also carry contamination risk, including Salmonella and heavy metals.

How does Canada compare with other countries?

Can kratom sellers advertise in Canada?

We are a production company, so this is the question we actually get. Kratom vendors ask us for product videos and branded content. Their scripts almost always rely on claims about pain, energy, focus or opioid withdrawal, and under Canadian law each of those claims makes the product an unauthorized drug. The ad becomes evidence against the seller.

Distribution is also a problem. Google’s healthcare and medicines ad policy restricts unapproved supplements and psychoactive substances, and Meta’s rules are similar. In practice, kratom campaigns get disapproved or the ad accounts get suspended. Content that mentions no effects at all is legally safer, but it gives buyers no reason to purchase. We tell clients plainly that no wording fixes this. The only lawful way to make health claims is to obtain an NPN, and nobody has managed that for kratom.

If you are deciding whether to buy, sell or promote kratom in Canada, start with two checks. First, search the recalls database for current enforcement against kratom products. Second, look up any product claiming to be licensed in the NHP database. If you take kratom or are thinking about it, talk to a pharmacist or physician, particularly if you take other medications or are using kratom to manage opioid use. Evidence-based treatments for opioid use disorder are covered by provincial health plans.