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Georgia's AG Wants a Kratom Ban. That Isn't Georgia Law.

Chris Girard
Oct 16
5 min read

Thursday morning, Georgia's Attorney General said it out loud.

"It's time to ban all kratom-related products in Georgia."

My phone did what it always does. Half the calls: "Is kratom illegal in Georgia now?" The other half: "The feds just set a number, so we're fine, right?"

No. And no.


What happened

On October 15, Attorney General Chris Carr ran a guest column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The ask is specific. He wants the General Assembly to pass, and the governor to sign, "a default-ban law for all kratom-derived products, with a narrow list of approved products." He posted the same message on X that morning.

That's an op-ed. Not a bill. Not an Official Opinion of the Attorney General. Not a rule. Nothing you can legally sell in Georgia changed on Thursday.

Don't wave it off, though. When the state's top law enforcement officer says "existing law does not go far enough," every sheriff and district attorney in Georgia hears where he wants them looking. An AG op-ed isn't law. It is a seizure-risk signal.


What the law actually is today

Georgia already has a kratom law. It's been in force since January 1, 2025. Most of the stores I talk to know the age rule. Far fewer know the numbers.

  • 21 and over. No sales or transfers to anyone under 21.

  • Behind the counter. Kratom goes behind the counter or in a secured display.

  • No vapes. You can't sell or deliver vape-able kratom in or into Georgia.

  • Natural plant only. No synthetic mitragynine, no synthetic 7-OH, no processing that pushes the alkaloids past the caps.

  • The caps. Nothing over 150 mg of mitragynine per serving. Nothing over 0.5 mg of 7-OH per gram. Nothing over 1 mg of 7-OH per serving.

  • Labels. Mitragynine and 7-OH per product and per package, serving size, the under-21 statement, who made it and where.

  • Processors need a registered agent in Georgia.

The penalties have teeth. A knowing or criminally negligent violation by a processor or a retailer is a high-and-aggravated misdemeanor the first time. The next conviction is a felony. One to fifteen years. Up to $100,000.

That's the statute: O.C.G.A. 16-13-120 through 16-13-122, as rewritten by HB 181. Signed text here: https://gov.georgia.gov/document/2024-signed-legislation/hb-181/download

Last November the AG's office put out a consumer alert restating those same caps. That's agency guidance. It restates the law. It doesn't make new law: https://law.georgia.gov/press-releases/2025-11-13/consumer-alert-carr-warns-dangerous-synthetic-opioids-flooding-gas


The federal number won't save you in Georgia

Here's the mistake I'm watching people make this week.

DEA's October 14 notice of intent would put 7-OH in Schedule I above 1 mg per gram, and it's still a proposal, not law. I broke it down here: https://www.thynk.guru/post/dea-7oh-threshold-notice-is-not-a-kratom-leaf-ban

Now read Georgia's number again. Half a milligram per gram.

Example math, not a test result: a product at 0.8 mg of 7-OH per gram clears the federal line. In Georgia it's over the cap. Today.

Georgia's number is lower. And it reaches products "sold in, or delivered to," the state. That means orders you ship in from a warehouse somewhere else. If the order ends up in Georgia, Georgia's number is the one that counts.


What's coming

Short calendar.

October 23. The Georgia House Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Youth Exposure to Kratom and Retail-Available Substances holds its final meeting at the Capitol, 9 a.m. The chair is Rep. Rick Townsend. He led the sponsor list on HB 181. He's also a primary sponsor on HB 968, this session's bill to put mitragynine and 7-OH in Schedule I. HB 968 cleared committee in March. It never got a floor vote.

January. The General Assembly comes back. The AG has now told it, in public, what he wants.

Put those two together. You can see where this goes.


What I'd do this week

Pull a COA for every kratom lot you sell into Georgia. Not the brand's sell sheet. The lot. You need 7-OH in mg per gram, plus mitragynine and 7-OH per serving. Over 0.5 mg/g? That SKU comes out of Georgia now. Not in January.

Check per serving, too. A product can sit under 0.5 mg/g and still go over 1 mg of 7-OH per serving if the serving is big. Do the math on the label.

Get it in writing from your processor. Georgia gives retailers a defense if they relied in good faith on the processor's word that the product and the label complied. That defense is only as good as the paper you can produce. Signed spec. COA. Lot number. On file before anybody asks.

Fix the counter. Behind the counter or a secured display. ID every sale. Write down your under-21 policy and train on it. Those are the easy cases for a local cop to make.

Sort the vapes and the extracts. Vape-able kratom is out. Anything synthetic is out. If your staff can't tell "enhanced" from leaf, assume the officer can't either. And assume he takes all of it.

Know your Georgia exposure. What share of your kratom revenue sells in or ships to Georgia? Know that number now, so you can move fast if a January bill moves.


My prediction

This is a prediction. Not law.

I expect the study committee to recommend tighter restrictions on October 23. Townsend's own bill already tells you which way he leans. I expect a Schedule I-style bill or a "default ban with an approved list" bill in January. And I expect the AG's column to get quoted at the first committee hearing.

Will it pass? Real question. HB 968 stalled this year. Leaf advocates were in the AG's replies within hours, and they'll be in the hearing room in January.

Meanwhile, I expect enforcement to get louder, not quieter. Not because the law changed. Because the people who enforce it just heard their AG say the current law isn't enough. The easy cases under the law Georgia already has: 7-OH tablets, vapes, the under-21 sale. That's where I'd look for the first visible moves.


Where Thynk fits

The job this week is proof. Every Georgia lot tied to its COA. Every 7-OH number checked against 0.5 mg/g and 1 mg per serving. The processor's paper on file. ThynkFlow runs that lot-to-COA-to-destination check before an order ships: https://thynkflow.io

Want a second set of eyes on your Georgia SKUs, or someone watching October 23 and the January bills for you? Reach me at https://www.thynk.guru/contact-us

Chris Girard, Thynk Industries

Thynk Industries is a compliance and operations consultancy. We are not a law firm, and this is not legal advice. Talk to licensed Georgia counsel about your specific products and facts.


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