Is 7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) legal in Belgium?
- Legal status
- 7-hydroxymitragynine is not reached by the Belgian controlled drug lists on the text checked here. The search found no entry at all: Annex IV limb B names mitragynine and Annex IV limb C controls kratom plant material containing mitragynine, and neither names the 7-hydroxy metabolite. This is the sharpest trap in the Belgian table. The metabolite is not the printed entry, and Annex IVA carries no generic indole alkaloid or mitragynine derivative family that could reach it. Kratom material that contains the named mitragynine stays controlled through that content, so the isolated compound and the plant material give different answers. That makes this a positive absence rather than a silence: the dossier records that before any absence was entered, the search moved through Annexes I to IV, all eight Annex IVA generic families, Annex V, product specific royal decrees, the EU precursor schedules, the AFMPS human and veterinary medicine database and the applicable food, plant, tobacco, alcohol or chemical product route. Belgium works a delegated model: article 2bis §1 of the Law of 24 February 1921 punishes breaches concerning substances whose list is settled by the King, and the Royal Decree of 6 September 2017 supplies that list. The named lists are closed, so pharmacological resemblance, a similar spelling or a substring match cannot enlarge them.
- Consequences if caught
- Capital exposure: none. Belgium's drug law carries no death penalty and no life sentence. On this row no controlled drug ladder attaches either. Article 2bis of the Law of 24 February 1921 reaches substances the King has listed, and 7-hydroxymitragynine is not on that list, so it supplies no band, no aggravated ceiling and no fine on this row. Separate product, food, tobacco, alcohol, medicines or veterinary penalties sit outside this row unless it states one, and it states none. The reason is the classification itself rather than a lenient penalty: this is a positive absence recorded after the named lists, the eight generic families and the plant material entries were all checked, not a failure to look. Where a material described by this name in fact contains a listed substance, article 2(14) reaches it as a preparation and the article 2bis ladder then applies to that content.
- If prescribed or medical
- The rule that applies to a traveller here is Belgium's own and it is one rule for the whole country: article 3(4)(4) of the Royal Decree of 6 September 2017. It is a document exception rather than a schedule, and it is not a prescribing right. It covers a medicine that was lawfully obtained, carried for the traveller's own personal use, and limited to no more than three months of treatment, and it expressly excludes the substances in Annex II limb A. 7-hydroxymitragynine is not in Annexes I to IV at all on this row's finding, so there is nothing here for the exception to except, and a travel question about it is a medicines or product question rather than a controlled drug one. The compound has no Belgian annex placement of its own, and its parent alkaloid's placement does not travel to it. No route specific to 7-hydroxymitragynine was found in this dossier and none has been invented for it.
- Documentation
- Carry the distinction between the isolate and the plant. Kratom material containing mitragynine is controlled through Annex IV limb C, so material described as 7-hydroxymitragynine can still be controlled by what it actually contains. This was read on 18 September 2026 against the annex consolidation and the decree. The annex text read is the non official consolidated version published by the AFMPS; it is informative and the Moniteur belge controls. The annex consolidation relied on here is valid from 29 March 2026, following the amending Royal Decree published on 19 March 2026, and carries a correction dated 16 July 2026.
- Belgium, Royal Decree of 6 September 2017, Annexes I to V, the eight Annex IVA generic families and articles 2, 8 and 61, checked for 7-hydroxymitragynine with the result that there is no entry at all: Annex IV limb B names mitragynine and Annex IV limb C controls kratom plant material containing mitragynine, and neither names the 7-hydroxy metabolite
- read at https://www.afmps.be/sites/default/files/content/INSP/NARC/annex%20IV_non%20official%20consolidated%20version.pdf on 18 September 2026
- the decree is at https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/eli/arrete/2017/09/06/2017031231/justel and the Law of 24 February 1921 bilingual consolidation at https://afmps.be/sites/default/files/downloads/LOI-WET-1921-02-24.pdf
- the annex text is the AFMPS non official consolidated version, valid from 29 March 2026 with a correction dated 16 July 2026, and the Moniteur belge controls
Court records
We have not yet assessed whether court records are publicly available for this jurisdiction.
Other substances confirmed in Belgium
Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Belgium’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.
Before you travel
Verify current rules with the destination country’s official drug authority and your own country’s embassy before traveling. Find the destination’s U.S. embassy & official country guidance →
Non-U.S. travelers: check your own government’s travel advisory and embassy.
If you’re detained or arrested abroad
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