Alaska regulators order retailers to stop selling kratom drinks with alcohol

The Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office has issued an advisory notice and is delivering cease and desist letters to retailers of O.P.M.S. liquid kratom extract products after state lab testing found the drinks contain more than 0.5% alcohol. That finding brings them under Title IV of Alaska statutes, the law governing the manufacture, sale, and possession of alcoholic beverages. Products marketed as kratom supplements are now being treated as alcohol under state law.

The State of Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory confirmed the alcohol content. Joe Bankowski, Enforcement Supervisor at the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office, reported the action to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in a memorandum dated June 17, 2026. "An advisory notice was issued and cease and desist letters are being delivered by the enforcement unit to retailers of these products," Bankowski said. The enforcement period covered by the memo runs from April 4 through June 12, 2026, during which AMCO completed 480 licensed premises inspections statewide. The agency noted that reported enforcement numbers are not final outcomes.

Who Gets a Letter

The enforcement sweep reaches well beyond traditional liquor stores. O.P.M.S. kratom products are commonly stocked in convenience stores, smoke shops, and supplement retailers, many of which hold no alcohol license and may not have known the products were regulated as alcoholic beverages. AMCO has not publicly identified which specific retailers have received letters, and the source confirms only that cease and desist letters are being delivered to retailers of these products. The agency said it will prioritize travel to communities off the road system for the remainder of the summer.

The agency is also contending with staffing gaps that could affect its enforcement reach. According to the director's report, there are currently three vacant Special Investigator positions in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau. A recruitment for the Fairbanks Special Investigator I position was recently reposted after the initial pool of applicants failed to meet minimum qualifications. AMCO said it is in the early stages of reclassifying one or more Special Investigator vacancies to the basic Investigator series to attract a larger pool of candidates.

Retailers with questions about compliance can contact the office at [email protected]. Legitimate emails from AMCO come only from @alaska.gov addresses. The agency has separately warned that fraudulent emails using the address [email protected] have been used to solicit payments from licensees.