Articles

10/26/2026

10/25/2026

Background: Kratom is an illicit substance that has binding affinity to opioid receptors in high doses. Naltrexone is an opioid antagonist used for treatment of alcohol dependence; however, a 7- to 10-day washout period is required to avoid severe withdrawal in opioid users. There is currently no warning regarding concurrent kratom use in naltrexone prescribing information.

10/17/2026

10/11/2026

Technical notes- Reference notes on extraction and winterization solvents for cannabis, hemp, kratom and other botanicals, and on the residual-solvent rules they have to pass.
 

10/08/2026

09/21/2026

On a chilly night this past February, Andrew Wood died alone in his bed after consuming a kratom product purchased legally at a Brunswick vape shop. He was 24.

09/12/2026

Six months ago, my son passed away, and kratom was the cause of his death per his toxicology report. Before this tragedy, I had no idea how widely available and unregulated this substance is, despite its serious risks, including addiction, harmful side effects, and even death.

09/06/2026

09/02/2026

Of note, 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) is a naturally occurring alkaloid in the kratom plant, but only a minor constituent that comprises less than 2% of the total alkaloid content in natural kratom leaves. However, 7-OH demonstrates substantially greater mu-opioid receptor potency than kratom’s primary alkaloid constituent mitragynine, as well as other classical opioids such as morphine.

09/02/2026

University of Florida professor Christopher McCurdy has accepted travel reimbursements, donations to his university’s foundation and funding for symposiums from the American Kratom Association. None of this is mentioned in the papers he publishes.
The leading scientist urging policymakers not to criminalize kratom, a substance that has left a trail of death and addiction around the world, has routinely failed to disclose longstanding financial ties to the industry’s most powerful lobbying group, ProPublica has found.

08/15/2026

08/06/2026

Roneet Lev, who serves as the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) chief medical officer, made the comments on the Drug Free America Foundation’s Pathways to Prevention podcast last month.

07/30/2026

The Brief

• • A 2-year-old Brevard County girl died after ingesting kratom, according to investigators.
  • Police said two adults witnessed the child suffer medical distress but did not seek emergency care.
  • The child's father and another adult have been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect.

07/24/2026

The Ocala City Council directed the city attorney to draft a kratom sales ban ordinance in coordination with Marion County, citing addiction, overdoses, and risks to youth.

07/22/2026

07/22/2026

07/20/2026

07/19/2026

07/19/2026

07/10/2026

The Mayo Clinic calls it addictive, unsafe and ineffective. Opponents call it “gas station heroin.” But for Patti Wheeler, it’s the tragic cause of death for her 27-year-old son Robert “Wyatt” Wheeler, who suffered a fatal seizure just six weeks after he began taking Kratom. With the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announcing July 1 that it is implementing a temporary, emergency ban on synthetic, concentrated forms of the drug — a compound called 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) — we talk to Wheeler about her years of advocacy work and why she believes the ban needs to be broader and permanent. We also speak to a local recovery expert about the unique threats and challenges posed by ever-evolving formulas of synthetic drugs.

06/26/2026

06/07/2026

05/28/2026

05/18/2026

05/17/2026

“Vape stores are popping up in every neighborhood in America, and many are selling addictive products like concentrated 7-OH. After the last wave of the opioid epidemic, we cannot get caught flat-footed again,” said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H. “7-OH is an opioid that can be more potent than morphine. We need regulation and public education to prevent another wave of the opioid epidemic.”

05/16/2026

05/04/2026

04/12/2026

04/01/2026

01/27/2026

01/09/2026

11/26/2025

11/14/2025

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — While most of the public attention on the newly passed federal funding bill has centered on air travel delays and furloughed workers, a lesser-known provision tucked inside the legislation is sending shockwaves through the hemp industry: a ban on nearly all hemp-derived products.
At the center of the issue is THC — the psychoactive compound in cannabis and hemp responsible for producing a high. 
Millard explained that even common items like CBD tinctures, which are generally small, would fall above the new limit.
“Even one dropper of a full spectrum CBD would have, somewhere between, half a milligram to maybe, one milligram of THC,” he said.
Hemp became federally legal under the 2018 Farm Bill, signed by President Donald Trump. 
That law removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and legalized all parts of the plant as long as products contained no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC.
However, industry leaders say lawmakers did not anticipate how extraction techniques would evolve.
“What he didn’t know or anticipate, and neither did most lawmakers, is that guys in hazmat suits and scientists were actually going to figure out how to spin the plant and extract psychotropic THC out of out of the hemp plant and create psychotropic products,” said Nick Garulay, owner of the medical marijuana service provider My Florida Green and RevitaOil CBD.
Garulay said this loophole opened the door to products containing extremely high THC levels — far beyond what most patients use.
“The normal dose for THC, for someone who is looking for relief is usually between 5 and 10 milligrams. You have places that are selling a thousand and 10,000 milligram gummies, which will put you in the hospital, especially if you’re not expecting it,” he said.
The measure will not take effect until late next year, giving the industry time to respond.
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a national hemp advocacy organization, said it plans to spend the next 365 days pushing federal officials to pursue regulation rather than prohibition.

10/05/2025

08/25/2025

Higher total cannabis sales were significantly associated with a 12% increase in drug-related crashes and a 12% rise in alcohol-related crashes across all cities combined. In Montréal, cannabis sales were linked to an 87% increase in drug-related crashes and a 93% increase in alcohol-related crashes

The findings suggest that increased cannabis availability, as measured by cannabis sales, is associated with higher rates of both drug- and alcohol-related crashes

08/20/2025

Now recreational use has exploded to the point where it has overtaken alcohol, and there’s still no sound science on the benefits of medical marijuana. Marijuana is a disaster. It’s infinitely worse than alcohol on every metric, especially mental health. The scientific evidence is incontrovertible that marijuana triggers psychosis in susceptible people. 
For example, a large-scale Danish study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2017 found that up to 30% of young men’s schizophrenia could have been prevented if they had not used pot. 

08/14/2025

07/28/2025

07/28/2025

Drafted by Senators Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, and Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, the bill provision aims to amend the hemp law established in the 2018 farm bill to prevent the sale of hemp-based intoxicating products. However, the changes would be implemented over the course of one year.
The one-year delay would allow current hemp farmers to finish this year’s crop under existing rules while giving lawmakers time to discuss and finalize new regulations to ensure a smoother transition without disrupting ongoing farming, according to Senator Merkley’s Thursday hearing.

07/28/2025

The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations have approved FY2026 Agriculture appropriations bills (H.R. 4121 and S. 2256) that would similarly redefine the statutory definition of hemp to restrict the commercial production, sale, and distribution of certain hemp-derived cannabinoid products. House appropriators have expressed that the provision would close "the hemp loophole that has resulted in the proliferation of unregulated intoxicating hemp products." During Senate committee markup, Senator Mitch McConnell expressed that the existing hemp definition has resulted in "an unintended consequence that has allowed for intoxicating hemp-derived synthetic products to be made and sold," calling for changes to reflect "the original intent of the 2018 farm bill" by closing the loophole. The Senate provision would delay implementation for one year; the House provision does not include this delay. Similar action was debated but not enacted in the 118th Congress.

06/20/2025

06/15/2025

In summary, the present study suggests that doses of mitragynine ranging between 5 and 40 mg were well tolerated in a controlled setting and that low doses (5–10 mg) of mitragynine may cause subjective feelings of stimulation and increased attention, pointing in the direction of enhancement of performance. On the other side, the highest dose (40 mg) might also produce inhibitory effects resulting in amnesia and psychopathological distress.

06/05/2025

Andy Harris, James Comer

06/01/2025

05/20/2025

Attorney is Michael Minardi who ran for House Representative as a Republican in 2020 but lost in the primary.  Wolf in sheep clothes. 

05/05/2025

04/22/2025

No prescription is required. The products are virtually unregulated: Bills to curb their sale have repeatedly died in Tallahassee. State and federal regulators have done almost nothing to intervene.
Scientists say the substance, called 7-hydroxymitragynine or 7-OH, poses a public health threat. The potent chemical is found in low quantities in the kratom plant, and a few 7-hydroxymitragynine products evoke the herb in their packaging.
But they’re far stronger than kratom leaf — and far more dangerous, experts say.

04/15/2025

03/15/2025