- Posted March 30, 2026
Kratom Cases Surging In U.S.
Kratom is becoming an increasing health threat in the U.S., with hospitalizations and calls to poison centers skyrocketing over the past decade, a new study says.
Calls to poison centers about the herbal supplement increased more than 1,200% between 2015 and 2025, researchers wrote in the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Likewise, hospitalizations linked to kratom use increased by more than 1,150% during the same 10-year period, researchers said.
“We are experiencing a marked increase in kratom-associated products being sold in the U.S market,” said researcher Dr. Chris Holstege, director of the University of Virginia Health’s Blue Ridge Poison Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“This trend found in the national data is also occurring in our local clinical practice, with more patients presenting to UVA Health following serious complications associated with kratom products,” Holstege said in a news release.
Kratom is derived from the leaves of a topical evergreen tree in Southeast Asia, researchers said in background notes. People there have traditionally consumed the leaves for pain relief and mood enhancement, chewing, crushing or turning them into tea.
Nowadays, kratom is widely available in U.S. vape shops and gas stations, often in forms far stronger than leaves, researchers said. For example, it comes in pills that might have been mixed with other substances.
Because it’s a supplement, kratom remains unregulated, researchers noted.
For the new study, researchers reviewed kratom-related calls to the nation’s poison centers. Between 2015 and 2025, more than 14,400 kratom exposures were recorded, most involving men in their 20s and 30s.
Researchers found that calls increased steadily from 2015 to 2019, plateaued between 2020 to 2024, and then surged in 2025.
Hospitalizations related to kratom also increased, by more than 1,150% for cases linked solely to kratom, and by nearly 1,300% for cases involving kratom used with other substances.
During the study period, 233 deaths were related to kratom, including 184 involving multiple substances.
In 2025, 3 out of 5 (60%) reports involving kratom combined with other substances had serious medical outcomes and half required hospitalization, researchers said.
The results indicate a need for increased scrutiny of kratom, researchers said.
“We want the public to be aware that these products contain chemicals of varying concentrations such as mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine that have complex pharmacological actions and can cause drug interactions and adverse consequences in humans,” Holstege said.
The findings were published March 26.
More information
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has more about kratom.
SOURCE: University of Virginia Health System, news release, March 26, 2026
