US Navy Prohibits The Use Of Organic Opioid.

Washington DC; January 2026: The United States Navy announced that it is prohibiting the consumption of an organic opioid, along with several other substances, in a recent service-wide message. The Navy has announced vide a Memo on 14th January 2026, that service members were barred from using Kratom, Mitragynine and 7-Hydroxymitragynine.

“Protecting service member welfare and readiness is paramount to maintaining an effective fighting force”, the message reads. “Additionally, substance misuse by members of the armed forces is incompatible with military standards of good order, discipline, performance, and operational readiness”.

Kratom comes from an indigenous Southeast Asian tree whose leaves contain the other two banned drugs, all of which are typically distributed to users in the form of capsules, shots, edibles and other forms, according to the naval administrative message.

The FDA does not federally regulate Kratom, Mitragynine or 7-Hydroxymitragynine, the latter of which can be stronger than morphine, the Navy said.

Some states, like Ohio, are moving to ban the drug. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy recommended that kratom be reclassified as a Schedule I controlled substance after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine banned synthetic kratom. The Navy warned that use of the drugs can lead to seizures, tachycardia, hepatotoxicity, hypertension and death.

Cameron McNamee, director of Policy and Communications for the Ohio Board Of Pharmacy, said there are serious concerns about the drug’s health effects. “When we’re talking about the quote-unquote natural versions of kratom, we’re still talking about a product that is a partial opioid agonist, meaning that it does hit those receptors in the brain that other opioids hit as well”, McNamee said.

The fact that the chemical compounds in kratom behave so similarly to those found in opioids is one reason why many people use the drug to manage pain and, in some cases, treat the lingering effects of opioid addiction. That trend, McNamee said, is also worrying to the Board of Pharmacy.

“I think the concern lies in that we have FDA-approved medications to help individuals with opioid use disorder, and those have gone through phase one, two and three clinical trials, whereas Kratom has never gone past a phase one clinical trial”, he said. “We want to drive individuals who are experiencing substance abuse disorder to those evidence-based approaches”.

Senator Steve Huffman (Republican-Tipp City), who proposed the legislation that ultimately resulted in a ban on intoxicating hemp products, said the debate over kratom is very similar to the debate over hemp.

“Very much like hemp, there’s two ways to go”, Huffman said. “It’s totally banned, like the governor currently wants, or make it a safe product”.

At least two bills that would keep kratom legal but regulated are already in the state legislature, including one in the Ohio House sponsored by Representative Brian Lorenz (Republican-Powell).

Sailors who violate the new policy will face administrative and or disciplinary action for violating Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 92, or “failure to obey a lawful general order”. The order cited the Navy’s Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program and Marine Corps Substance Assessment and Counseling Centers for any service members experiencing problems with addiction.

Team Maverick.