Missoula County to prohibit sale of kratom in retail food businesses

The sale of kratom products in retail food businesses in Missoula County will be prohibited beginning next month, as the county health department aims to restrict access to the unregulated substance that can have opioid-like effects.

The health department sent a letter to all retail food establishments Sept. 25 notifying them that no kratom food or drink products are approved for sale in the United States and that the department will begin enforcing that rule during its routine inspections after Nov. 2. 

Shannon Therriault, the department’s environmental health director, told the Missoula County commissioners Monday that kratom is not regulated and can be addictive. Therriault said 29 Montana overdose deaths between 2020 and 2025 involved kratom.  

“We hope that we make kratom a lot less available to people, especially kids or people who are unsuspectingly buying what they think is an herbal product that is really something much more dangerous to them,” Therriault told Montana Free Press Monday.

Kratom products are derived from a tree native to Southeast Asia. The products, including teas, energy shots, seltzers, gummies, tablets and powders, are widely sold and often marketed as mood stabilizers or pain relievers. Commercial products often include highly concentrated kratom components that act as an opiate and can lead to addiction or overdose, according to the Confluence Health Alliance. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved any kratom products for use as an over-the-counter or prescription drug and has deemed it an unsafe food additive. As such, kratom cannot be lawfully sold, and the Missoula city-county health department will begin verifying during routine inspections that retail food establishments are not selling the product, according to the letter to businesses. 

The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council banned the sale, use and possession of kratom from the tribe’s reservation last September. The move, which criminally penalized retailers selling kratom products, aimed to prevent the proliferation of the products. 

RiverStone Health, the health department for Yellowstone County, began prohibiting the sale of kratom in retail food establishments in January, and in May sued four businesses to halt the sale of kratom products. 

Therriault said the Missoula Health Department had been talking about kratom for a while and, after Yellowstone County’s action, decided to look into kratom’s availability in Missoula County. 

Of the 23 retail food businesses that staff members visited in late August, 12 were selling kratom products, Therriault said. Those businesses located throughout the county included convenience stores, casinos, a small grocery store and an herb store, she said.  

“In some places it was not very much, and in some it was a stunning amount,” Therriault told the county commissioners. 

After sending the letter in late September, a couple of businesses have reached out with questions, but there hasn’t been much pushback, Therriault said. Some retailers voiced concern about unfair enforcement as the health department is not restricting the sale of kratom at dispensaries, vape shops or other businesses, she said. 

“I’m happy we have the ability to restrict it in retail food [businesses], but it’s still a community health concern,” said Jeanna Miller, Missoula’s chief health officer, during the county commissioner meeting. 

While the Montana Legislature did not pass any kratom regulations in 2025, it will likely talk about it again in the upcoming session, Therriault said. 

“We’re hoping to raise awareness about the issues with kratom so that as we head into the legislative session, legislators are more aware and educated on the problem with kratom so that we can work towards banning it in the state as opposed to making it legal to sell in the state,” she told MTFP. “Kratom really poses a big public health issue, so we want people to be aware of it.”