What Is MGM-15? The Lab-Made Compound Sold Beside Kratom Extracts

MGM-15 is made in a laboratory, by chemically changing one of the kratom leaf's minor alkaloids. It was first described in a 2014 pain-drug study in mice, guinea pigs and rats, turned up in products in September 2025, and has been a Schedule I controlled substance since 26 August 2026, along with its fluorinated sibling MGM-16, under a temporary federal order. Whether you searched mgm 15, mgm15 or what is MGM-15, here is what the primary sources say it is, what the DEA counted, how labels hide it, and what our own certificates show. We sell kratom extracts, so that last part is not optional.

What is MGM-15? The DEA's description

The DEA's temporary scheduling order of 26 August 2026 gives the plainest answer: "Unlike the indole alkaloids mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, which are naturally occurring in the plant, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16 are produced through synthetic modifications of purified mitragynine isolates or 7-hydroxymitragynine." Its legal text lists the compound as "commonly known as MGM-15; also known as dihydro-7-hydroxymitragynine", drug code 9673.

MGM-16 is the fluorinated version. The 2014 paper that introduced both calls it "the C10-fluorinated derivative of MGM-15", and the DEA lists it under drug code 9674 with two alternative names, "depending on numbering convention". CFSRE, a nonprofit forensic laboratory whose NPS Discovery program is supported by the National Institute of Justice, gives MGM-15's formula as C23H32N2O5. CFSRE says only that the name relates "to its original literature source", and no source we read says what the letters stand for.

Made how, and when: a 2014 pain-drug study in animals

MGM-15 and MGM-16 first appeared in 2014, in a paper by Matsumoto, Takayama and colleagues in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. The authors called them "semisynthetic compounds", made by chemically reducing a purified kratom alkaloid or, for MGM-16, a fluorinated version of it, and their aim was "dual-acting mu- and delta-opioid agonists" for "the treatment of acute and chronic pain". The DEA's summary agrees: "In 2014, as part of a drug discovery research, MGM-15 and MGM-16 were developed as potent opioid agonists, with potential therapeutic utility for pain."

Who the work was done on matters most. Male mice, guinea pigs and rats, and cultured cells. There are no human data in the paper, and it did not measure breathing or test tolerance, dependence or reward for either compound.

In mice, in the tail-flick test, the paper found MGM-15 "approximately 15 and 50 times more potent than that of morphine after subcutaneous and oral administration, respectively", and MGM-16 about 71 and 240 times by the same two routes. The DEA's figures, "about 50 and 240 times more potent than morphine in animal models", match the oral results from that mouse tail-flick test. None of them compares MGM-15 with kratom leaf.

Neither compound became an approved medicine in the United States. The order says "DEA is not aware of any currently accepted medical uses for mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16 in the United States", and HHS told the DEA there were no investigational or approved new drug applications for any of them.

Synthetic or semi-synthetic? The sources use both

You will see MGM-15 called synthetic in one place and semi-synthetic in the next. The primary sources use both words, sometimes in the same document.

The careful wording, then: MGM-15 is semi-synthetic, made in a lab by chemically changing an alkaloid first taken from the plant, and the DOJ and CFSRE simply call it synthetic. Nobody in that table calls it natural. Hawaii's bulletin uses both framings, but derived from the plant is not the same as found in it, and no study we read reports MGM-15 in the leaf, or forming in the body.

How MGM-15 relates to the minor alkaloid and to pseudoindoxyl

MGM-15 starts from a minor kratom alkaloid, which we call the concentrated minor alkaloid. The DEA's July press release says "In its botanical form, 7-OH is found in trace amounts in the Mitragyna speciosa plant", and a separate July notice proposes scheduling it "above a specified threshold". No order has followed, so that action is proposed, not in force. MGM-15 is not a concentrate of that alkaloid. It is a different molecule made from it, and Gour and colleagues write that the change "increases opioid receptor affinity and activity", a laboratory finding.

Pseudoindoxyl, the third scheduled compound, is in the DEA's words "a chemical rearrangement product of 7-hydroxymitragynine", and CFSRE gives its formula as C23H30N2O5 against MGM-15's C23H32N2O5. Different reaction, different molecule, different evidence: a laboratory study reports the minor alkaloid converting to pseudoindoxyl in human plasma, covered with its caveats in our pseudoindoxyl explainer, and no source we read reports anything similar for MGM-15.

On the shelf, though, they are often mixed with other alkaloids. From vendor websites, the DEA found that concentrated products "often contain more than one alkaloid with opioid activity (e.g., mitragynine and MGM-15 or 7-hydroxymitragynine and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl)".

From research paper to product: what the DEA found

MGM-15 sat in the literature for eleven years. CFSRE received a sample on 2 September 2025 and "first identified" the compound that month, and the DEA writes that "The emergence of MGM-15 in commercially available products was in September 2025." By early 2026, the order says, pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15 products were "sold in smoke shops, gas stations, and through numerous online marketplaces, often positioned alongside dietary supplements, which mask their potent opioid nature", and often advertised as "not intended for human consumption."

A claim and a measurement are easy to confuse. The DEA says one vendor's marketing for an MGM-15 product indicates "a very large amount of MGM-15" per bottle, which, "given its extreme opioid potency, presents a significant threat to public health." Separately, Gour and colleagues measured the MGM-15 in MGM-labeled tablets in a laboratory, with "no naturally occurring kratom alkaloids or illicit substances detected". One is a seller's claim, the other a measurement. Neither is a dose.

The marketing leaned on the leaf anyway. The DEA: "The branding creates a false sense of safety for unknowing consumers who may equate the term "botanical" with lower risk."

The harm figures, and why detection is not cause

The order's gravest number: "From February through April 2026, DEA TOX detected MGM-15 in 17 overdose cases, 16 resulting from a fatal event." DEA TOX is "a surveillance program that aims to detect novel psychoactive substances in fatal and nonfatal overdose cases". The order also cites a CFSRE trend report in which "MGM-15 appeared in 21 toxicology specimens and 3 drug materials"; that report prints its counts as graphics, so we give the figure as the DEA reports it.

Read the verb. Detected means found in a sample, and the DEA does not say MGM-15 caused those deaths. The single toxicology case in CFSRE's monograph, as the DEA's July notice describes it, had MGM-15 alongside mitragynine, the concentrated minor alkaloid and trace ketamine. The DEA's risk wording starts from the receptor, not from a breathing study: because the three are "potent MOR agonists", they "pose similar health risks as other mu-opioid agonists (i.e., morphine and fentanyl), including physical and psychological dependence, and respiratory depression."

Hawaii's kratom informational bulletin records one death, reported by news sources on 27 April 2026: "According to the Honolulu Medical Examiner, this death was not attributed to 7-OH alone. Toxicology testing identified multiple kratom-related compounds, with dihydro-7-hydroxymitragynine (MGM-15) present at the highest concentration." We have not read the medical examiner's own report. Highest concentration is not sole cause. And the bulletin's line that kratom, its alkaloids and MGM-15 "are not considered controlled substances" has been out of date for MGM-15 since 26 August 2026.

Schedule I: what the federal order does, and what the DOJ added

The order took effect on publication, 26 August 2026, and runs to 26 August 2028, "with a possible extension of one year, pending completion of the regular (permanent) scheduling process." Its two key sentences: "Retail sales of schedule I controlled substances to the general public are not allowed under the CSA. Possession of any quantity of mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, or MGM-16 in a manner not authorized by the CSA on or after August 26, 2026 is unlawful".

The Department of Justice's announcement of 25 August 2026 added a trace-amount policy that is easy to misread. The department "will exercise enforcement discretion when only incidental trace amounts of MGPI are confirmed in a product otherwise consistent with botanical kratom", which "does not create a legal exemption". MGPI is pseudoindoxyl. On the other two, the release is explicit: "This enforcement policy does not apply to MGM-15 or MGM-16, or products containing manufactured, concentrated, fortified or intentionally added MGPI." For MGM-15, any quantity means any quantity.

MGM-16 was scheduled without being confirmed in the consumer market. The DEA states that "no evidence supports the presence of MGM-16 on the Mitragyna speciosa consumer market", but reasoned that "to schedule MGM-15 without MGM-16 would create a regulatory loophole that manufacturers are already poised to exploit." A Federal Register search on 7 October 2026 found no extension, no permanent rule and no order on the threshold notice.

States that name MGM-15 themselves

Federal Schedule I applies in every state. Several states also name MGM-15 themselves, and they spell it differently.

New Jersey passed nothing new: its law applied the federal listing on 25 September 2026, and its Attorney General's alert says "Natural kratom and other synthetic kratom-related compounds not scheduled will not be illegal in New Jersey as a result of this change in federal law." It adds that "no forms of kratom or related synthetic compounds have been shown to be safe or effective to treat any medical condition." North Dakota's HB 1628 lists MGM-15 among kratom alkaloid derivatives and makes possession "an infraction for a first offense, a class A misdemeanor for a second offense, or a class C felony for a third or subsequent offense." Ohio's rule, in force since 19 May 2026, months before the federal order, names the compound while excluding "Mitragynine in vegetation form, including natural kratom leaf and ground natural kratom leaf".

Labels drift: DHM, proprietary blend, and a product sold as mitragynine

CFSRE's May 2026 public alert, built on test purchases, shows the name on the pack falling away: its "branding and market naming vary widely." The market name "switched to "DHM"", and then: "Most recently, similar to the trajectory of other smoke shop products, kratom alkaloids now appear under the guise of "proprietary blend" labeling."

Of its four test purchases, the two sold as MGM-15 contained MGM-15. A proprietary blend labeled "DHM" contained MGM-15 and mitragynine. The fourth, advertised as a mitragynine product with the buzzword "nano tech", also contained MGM-15 and mitragynine.

So a label that says MGM-15 is announcing a Schedule I product, and a label that says mitragynine or proprietary blend tells you nothing either way. Even laboratories have to look on purpose. CFSRE reports that MGM-15 converts to mitragynine during GC-MS analysis, so it identified the compound by LC-QTOF-MS against a reference standard, and the DEA's order says thin seizure data "may be due to lack of readily available analytical reference standards and other analytic challenges".

When we reviewed OPMS kratom, we checked every page we read for products named or marketed as any of the three scheduled compounds, and found none. But a name check only catches honest labels. Our advice: past that, look for a certificate for that lot whose panel names MGM-15, and know what it can show. Which brings us to ours.

What our own certificates show about MGM-15, and what they do not

A page that tells you to distrust labels has to show you ours. The certificates below come from Cora Science, a laboratory in Austin, Texas, and each says "the results relate only to the specific sample of material or product analyzed." Two carry a derivative panel that names MGM-15 and MGM-16. Platinum lot 12242, a liquid extract reported on 20 August 2026, lists both as "ND", not detected, at a limit of quantitation of 1.53 micrograms per gram. PRIME lot 080826, our pressed extract tablet, reported on 14 September 2026, lists both as "ND" at a limit of 23.2.

Those are not the same statement. By our arithmetic the PRIME limit of quantitation is about 15 times the Platinum one, so an amount the Platinum test could measure could print as ND on the PRIME certificate. ND means below what that method could see, on that sample. It does not mean none.

Our other current certificates do not test for MGM-15 or MGM-16 at all. The five lots dated 6 August 2026, covering Silver, Gold and the three Rush shots, carry alkaloid and unit-weight panels only, and PRIME lot 02122026, issued 20 February 2026, has no derivative panel either. That PRIME certificate also carries a result we have to state plainly. On the line for the concentrated minor alkaloid it reads "7-Hydroxymitragynine | NMT 400 PPM | 1086 | ppm | 213 | FAIL", with results reported "on a dry-weight basis": 1086 parts per million against the 400 limit printed on the certificate, marked FAIL.

The same Platinum lot 12242 panel reports mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, the third scheduled compound: "Mitragynine Pseudoindoxyl | Report Results | 2.59 | ug/g". That is about 0.00026 per cent of the product by weight on our arithmetic, measured on 18 August 2026, eight days before pseudoindoxyl entered Schedule I, and at the PRIME limit it would have printed as ND. What it means legally now is a question for a lawyer, not for this page. The DOJ's discretion covers "incidental trace amounts of MGPI" in "a product otherwise consistent with botanical kratom", is policy rather than law, and "does not create a legal exemption". We print the number because the certificate is public.

So here is what we can say, and no more. No King K product is named or marketed as MGM-15 or MGM-16. Two of our certificates looked for both and did not detect them, at different limits; the rest did not look. That is not a claim that any product of ours is free of every scheduled compound. If you want the certificate for a particular lot, or you find a figure here that its source no longer supports, contact us.

Searched for mgm 15 tablets? The answer is Schedule I

If you came here searching for mgm 15 tablets, this is where that search ends. MGM-15 is a Schedule I controlled substance, possession of any quantity "in a manner not authorized by the CSA" is unlawful under federal law in every state, and the order rules out retail sale to the public. That is why this page offers no sellers, no prices, no advice on forms and no effects. We are not going to describe what MGM-15 does to a person, because no source we read measured it in one.

The MGM-labeled tablets Gour and colleagues analyzed were not kratom anyway: they found no naturally occurring kratom alkaloids in them. Nor is tablet the warning sign. The DEA describes these products as powders, tablets and liquid shots, and we make a pressed kratom extract tablet ourselves. What is in a product is the question.

If you have been taking MGM-15, call one of the numbers in the red box at the top: Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 for a reaction that worries you, 911 for someone hard to wake, not breathing normally or having a seizure, 988 by call or text, or findtreatment.gov. Our advice: do not replace it with another product, ours included, and talk to a clinician. If dependence is part of the picture, the medicines with an evidence base for opioid use disorder are buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone, and kratom is not one of them.

MGM-15 questions

What is MGM-15?

A semi-synthetic compound made in a laboratory by chemically changing a minor kratom alkaloid, first described in a 2014 pain-drug study in mice, guinea pigs and rats. The DOJ and CFSRE call it synthetic. No study we read reports it in the kratom leaf.

What is MGM-16?

A fluorinated version of MGM-15 from the same 2014 paper, also in Schedule I. The DEA says no evidence supports its presence on the kratom consumer market.

Is MGM-15 legal?

No. It has been in federal Schedule I since 26 August 2026 under a DEA temporary order running to 26 August 2028, with a possible one-year extension, and possession of any quantity not authorized by the Controlled Substances Act is unlawful. The DOJ trace-amount policy does not apply to it.

Are MGM-15 tablets kratom?

No. MGM-15 is made in a laboratory, and one 2025 analysis of MGM-labeled tablets found no naturally occurring kratom alkaloids in them. MGM-15 has been Schedule I since 26 August 2026.

Can a label tell me whether a product contains MGM-15?

Not reliably. CFSRE found MGM-15 in products sold under that name, in a proprietary blend labeled DHM, and in a product advertised as mitragynine. Only a certificate for that lot whose panel names MGM-15 can speak to it, and only for the sample tested, down to its limit.

Disclaimer: this page summarizes publicly available material as of 7 October 2026 and links to primary sources so you can check them. Potency figures are preclinical, from animals, and quoted with their assay. Certificate results are as printed on our certificates and relate only to the samples tested. It is general information, not legal or medical advice, and no substitute for counsel in your jurisdiction or for a clinician. Statements about botanical products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and no product is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.