North Carolina

Botanical Advocacy & Education >> North Carolina

Plain leaf kratom remains legal statewide in North Carolina for adults, and there are currently no county-wide or municipal bans on purchasing, possessing, or selling natural leaf kratom products across the state.

Statewide Legal & Legislative Landscape

  • Current Statewide Status: Neither kratom nor its primary natural alkaloids (mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine) are listed on North Carolina’s controlled substances schedules. Standard plain leaf botanical products can be legally purchased and possessed.
  • Statewide Legislative Reform Efforts:
    • HB 468 / SB 59: Regulatory measures proposed to establish a statewide Kratom Consumer Protection Act framework, requiring a minimum purchasing age of 21, mandatory third-party lab testing, packaging warnings, vendor licensing via Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE), and strict limits on 7-OH concentrations.
    • HB 328: Re-referred to committee after Senate amendments proposed prohibiting synthetic kratom derivatives and setting 21+ age restrictions on natural leaf.

City and County Actions in North Carolina

  • No Municipal/County Bans: Major cities (such as Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, Winston-Salem, and Asheville) and counties (such as Mecklenburg, Wake, and Guilford) have no local ordinances banning kratom possession or sale.
  • Local Retail & Unincorporated Rules:
    • Dare County: Enacted localized restrictions in unincorporated county areas addressing sales of adulterated products and enforcing age verification controls for buyers under 21.
    • Uniform Baseline: Local municipalities have deferred to state General Assembly debate, maintaining a consistent legal status from city to city without creating a local municipal ban patchwork.

HISTORY:

Conference Committee Meeting

Because the House officially failed to concur with the Senate’s changes to the bill, both chambers appointed members to a joint Conference Committee on June 23 and June 24, 2026, to hash out a final compromise.

By their nature, conference committee negotiations are widely considered “closed-door” or un-televised in practice. While notice of their meeting is filed, the actual bargaining between the designated House and Senate members happens behind the scenes to try and reconcile the massive gap between the two versions before the short session ends.

The stakes are incredibly high for these specific discussions:

  • The Nuclear Option (The Senate’s Push): The current Senate version contains Part IV, which would completely ban kratom by classifying it as a Schedule VI controlled substance. Top Senate leadership, including Phil Berger, have explicitly stated in recent weeks that they would prefer to just “ban it all.”
  • The Regulatory Option: The original intent was centered heavily around strict licensing for hemp and consumer protections.

Because of the severe threat of a total ban hidden inside H328’s conference negotiations, lawmakers who want to avoid an outright ban are simultaneously pushing Senate Bill 59 as a backup strategy. SB 59 passed out of committee on June 10, 2026, and acts as a strict 21+ age limit restriction—what sponsors call “the lowest hanging fruit”—to protect minors without enacting the total Schedule VI ban being debated in the H328 committee.

Information shared from GKC

House Bill 328 — which includes a blanket kratom ban — is set to be debated between House and Senate lawmakers in a closed-door negotiation.

We need advocates to contact the members of this conference committee and urge them to embrace commonsense regulation for natural kratom leaf, not a blanket ban that fails to distinguish between natural kratom leaf products and concentrated synthetic kratom derivatives.

Specifically, advocates should tell lawmakers to consider age restrictions, mandatory third-party testing, and labeling requirements. The General Assembly should follow the lead of federal health officials, who have recommended scheduling concentrated synthetic 7-OH, not natural kratom leaf.

Conference Committee Members

S559 Age 21 Hemp-Derived Consumables/Kratom
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 5)
Status: Engrossed on March 13 2025 – 50% progression
Action: 2026-06-10 – Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
Pending: House Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Amended) [PDF]


H328 Regulate Hemp-Derived Consumables. Kratom is primarily addressed in Part IV, which aims to classify it as a Schedule VI controlled substance.
Status: Engrossed on April 28 2025 – 50% progression
Action: 2026-04-21 – Failed Concur In S Com Sub
There is limited possibility of action during this short session. If you are a NC resident, please reach out for more information. info@botanicalae.org

H468 regulate kratom
G.S. 18E-101 would establish sales restrictions on kratom products and prohibit the following:
Selling a kratom product that is not contained in an exit package1
or a child proof package.
Selling at retail or on an internet website offering delivery in this State, a kratom product that is
not in compliance with G.S. 18E-105

See NC General Assembly Page on H328

Cities and Counties:
Scotland County

TOP