Kratom and Nitrous Oxide: Why Cities Are Choosing Bans Over Rules

Over the past year, 200 local governments took up kratom in a public meeting and 49 took up the retail sale of nitrous oxide. Almost none of them are writing rules for how these products can be sold. They are writing prohibitions.

Prohibition Runs Ahead of Regulation, Roughly Three to One

Of the 405 kratom records, 269 use the language of prohibition — ban, prohibit, unlawful, not a permitted use. Those come from 137 jurisdictions. Another 73 records from 50 jurisdictions take the regulatory route instead: an age limit, a retail license, labeling rules, a potency cap, or a zoning restriction.

Searching the same year for jurisdictions affirmatively permitting kratom sale — approving a retailer, adopting a definition that allows it, licensing a shop — returns almost nothing. That absence is the finding. Local governments are not weighing how to sell these products responsibly. They are deciding whether to allow them at all, and mostly answering no.

The nitrous oxide picture is narrower and sharper. Of 106 records mentioning it, 21 are about emissions, wastewater or dental anesthesia and have nothing to do with retail. The remaining 85, across 49 jurisdictions, concern nitrous oxide sold for inhalation. Thirty-seven of those jurisdictions are prohibiting retail sale.

Where the Activity Is Concentrated

Two states carry most of the kratom volume. Illinois leads with 111 records across 51 jurisdictions, followed by California with 84 across 41. Missouri (27 / 13), Massachusetts (26 / 16), Pennsylvania (18 / 9) and New Jersey (18 / 7) follow well behind. Nitrous oxide activity is heavily Californian.

One caution on the Illinois number. The 405 records contain 357 distinct texts, and a single county proclamation circulated verbatim through a cluster of Illinois townships. The jurisdiction counts are directionally right, but a share of the Illinois volume is one document appearing many times.

Why It Is Happening Now

Two things changed. The first is 7-hydroxymitragynine, usually written 7-OH — a concentrated kratom derivative far more potent than leaf kratom, which the FDA has moved to schedule and the DEA has been reviewing. Local ordinances name it directly. Tioga, North Dakota gave first reading in August to Ordinance 2026-06, titled the "7-Hydroxymitragynine Prohibition and Kratom Consumer Protection Ordinance." The Borough of Watchung, New Jersey opened its ordinance by reciting that kratom "contains mitragynine and 7-OH, which have opioid-like properties" and that the FDA "has announced that it was taking steps to ban" certain products.

The second is state action arriving faster than local process. On August 3, 2026, North Dakota's governor and attorney general announced executive actions banning kratom statewide and called a special session. Wahpeton's police records show the practical effect: the ban took effect at 5:00 p.m. on August 5, and the department began working with a state task force to ensure every point of sale in the city cleared its shelves. Stanley and Tioga had local ordinances in first reading the same week.

The Two Substances Are Increasingly One Ordinance

Nineteen jurisdictions addressed kratom and nitrous oxide in the same record, and in California they are now routinely bundled with flavored tobacco and drug paraphernalia into a single package.

Canyon Lake, California held second reading and adoption on three ordinances in one sitting on August 5 — Ordinance 278 regulating nitrous oxide, 279 regulating kratom products, and 280 regulating drug paraphernalia. Chino introduced Ordinance 2026-010 in July, adding a single chapter prohibiting flavored tobacco, nitrous oxide products and certain kratom products together, presented by the police department rather than planning staff. La Habra extended an urgency moratorium while initiating code amendments covering both. Alameda County put draft prohibition ordinances for kratom and for nitrous oxide on the same July agenda.

East Ridge, Tennessee took a different route, restricting what share of a store's sales floor may be devoted to a list that includes vape oils, "Kratom, glassware, pipes, vaporizers, and other smoking or inhalation accessories." The effect is zoning the retail format rather than banning the product.

What the Public Is Saying

Public comment runs in both directions, and the split is not the one a reader might expect.

The organized voices in favor of restriction are health systems and coalitions rather than residents. In Streator, Illinois, the hospital system OSF gave a council presentation describing kratom as "an unregulated herbal product sold as a natural supplement that can produce stimulant- and opioid-like effects" carrying "risks including dependence, seizures, and liver toxicity," and noted that 7-OH products are significantly more potent. In Wilmington, Illinois, Paula Ekstrom of the Wilmington Coalition told the council about the risks of kratom and 7-OH and that the DEA was reviewing its classification. In Dunn County, North Dakota, a nurse practitioner from the Coal Country Community Health clinic presented an update and told commissioners that addiction consulting was available locally.

The voices against prohibition are individual users. At Mariposa County's first reading, Steven Macintosh — who identified himself as a non-resident — told the board he had used kratom for more than eight years as pain medication after his prescription was stopped. In Downey, California, two residents filed comment against banning kratom on the same September night the council handled unrelated business.

Councils are not uniformly persuaded. Taylorville, Illinois adopted its prohibition on a 6-3 roll call, with three aldermen voting no.

What to Watch

Most of what is in the record is recent and unfinished. Oneida County, New York introduced a local law prohibiting kratom sales countywide in August. Warren, Michigan gave first reading to a prohibition in July. Sonoma County gave first reading to nitrous oxide retail restrictions in August. Irvine's council asked staff in July to begin preparing an ordinance. Eagle Point, Oregon reached consensus to draft one modeled on Medford's code, which is how these spread: a neighbor adopts, and the next town copies.

The phase after adoption is where the operating burden lands. Anaheim's council took an update in July on code enforcement implementing its tobacco retail permit, nitrous oxide and kratom regulations together. A prohibition is written in one meeting. Clearing the shelves of every convenience store, smoke shop and gas station in the city is a longer job, and few of these ordinances say who pays for it.

This article is factual background and is not legal, financial, or investment advice.