Kava
Kava basics: the plant, kavalactones, and how it is regulated
What kava is, what a kavalactone figure means, the federal food status, the New York food-service rules, the Iowa bill, and kava-plus-kratom products.
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What is kava?
Kava is a root crop of the Pacific islands, prepared traditionally as a water-based drink and sold in the United States as dried root powder, micronized root, extracts, drink mixes and canned beverages. Kava-only brands sell as "Dietary Supplement" products with 18+ text and no entry gate, which is how the category's largest online seller lists its 12-can packs (Leilo).
The active constituents are kavalactones. Labels state them in two ways: as a percentage of the root (one seller lists Vanuatu root at 5 to 7 percent kavalactones) or as milligrams per piece (another lists gummies at 50 mg kavalactones each and a kava-and-kratom shot at 25 mg kavalactones per serving) (Super Speciosa product data). As with kratom, the milligram figure is the one that can be compared across products, and the one this store will print from a lab report once a kava product is sourced.
How does the federal government classify kava?
Kava is not a controlled substance. Industry sources report that FDA "clarified in multiple case responses that kava is considered a conventional food under federal law as of December 2025" (Vicente LLP). Hawaii has recognized kava root as generally recognized as safe on its own authority, per the same summary.
The federal caution that every kava seller prints concerns the liver: a 2002 FDA consumer advisory on kava-containing supplements, which Leilo reproduces on its home page along with lines against mixing with alcohol and against driving (Leilo; Food Dive). A 2026 CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found serious medical outcomes in poison-center cases roughly doubling, coinciding with rising co-use of kava with kratom (CDC MMWR 75(12)).
Which states restrict kava?
No state statute restricts the retail shipment of packaged kava, and no state sets a purchase age for it, as of 2026-10-20. The rules that exist bite on food service, not on retail: New York State's March 2025 regulation classifies traditionally prepared kava drinks as unapproved food additives, so "kava could no longer be added to food or beverages at food service establishments" (Cornell Daily Sun), and a federal judge upheld New York City's ban on steeped kava beverages in cafes on 2025-08-07 (NutraIngredients-USA).
One bill would change that. Iowa HF 2159, introduced in the 91st General Assembly, would designate kava a Schedule I controlled substance; the research found it introduced, not enacted (Iowa HF 2159). In Virginia a Richmond kava bar operates under a business-specific health department consent order (no service to anyone under 21, no added ingredients), which is an order against one business, not a statute. This store's state table carries a kava row for every jurisdiction, all "ship," with the New York row flagged for counsel review.
Why do some sellers exclude states for kava?
Because they copy their kratom list. A kratom-and-kava merchant profile lists a no-ship list of Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin for its whole catalog, which tracks kratom law rather than kava law. This store keeps separate rows per class so that kava, once carried, ships to the states that kratom cannot.
Card platforms are a different matter. The research found that at least one mainstream platform's prohibited-business list, updated 2026-09-22, names kava alongside substances that mimic illegal drugs, which is why this store processes cards only through a separately underwritten merchant account and never through a platform wallet.
What about kava-plus-kratom products?
A product that contains both inherits every kratom rule: the 21+ states, the exclusion list, the label content and the warnings. The largest such product, a 2 oz tonic of noble kava root and leaf kratom, carries an "Are you 21+?" gate, a habit-forming warning, a two-servings-per-24-hours ceiling and a 30-day money-back subscription on its own site (Feel Free Classic tonic).
Its maker settled a California class action for $8.75 million in 2024 with a label change to say the product is habit-forming (BevNET), and a kratom seltzer maker faces a proposed class action in Washington federal court. The one kava-and-kratom shot on this store's catalog is classed as kratom extract and handled exactly like the tablets; its bottle size and lab data are pending from the supplier.
What this store is waiting for
Neither of this store's two suppliers offers a kava-only product. One supplier's kava shot is a pseudoindoxyl blend,
which is a Schedule I article and will never be carried. Sourcing a kava-only item with a kavalactone figure on a lab
report is the first entry on the owner's list in docs/TODO-MIKE.md; until then the kava collection exists and is
empty.
General information, not personalized guidance.
Sources
- Kava and kanna: regulation, safety and market trends for novel ingredients Vicente LLP (law firm summary; page returned 403 on fetch, cited via search summary) (accessed 2026-10-20)
- NYS regulation on kava reveals FDA regulatory gaps (March 6, 2025) Cornell Daily Sun (secondary) (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Judge rules kava drinks banned from NYC cafes (August 12, 2025) NutraIngredients-USA (secondary) (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Iowa HF 2159 (91st General Assembly) Iowa Legislature (accessed 2026-10-20)
- CDC MMWR 75(12): exposures involving kava and kratom co-use Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Kava and kratom seltzers, alcohol-channel retail and regulation (Food Dive) Food Dive (secondary) (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Botanic Tonics reaches settlement agreement in class action lawsuit (September 18, 2024) BevNET (press release distribution) (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Feel Free Classic tonic product page (ingredients and warnings as published) Botanic Tonics (vendor page, documents what sellers publish) (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Leilo home page (warnings as published) Leilo (vendor page, documents what sellers publish) (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Super Speciosa storefront product data (kavalactone figures as published) Super Speciosa (vendor page, documents what sellers publish) (accessed 2026-10-20)
Related questions
What is kava, and is it restricted?
Kava is a Pacific root crop sold as powder, extract and beverages, with kavalactones as the measured constituent. It is federally unscheduled, FDA has called it a conventional...