kratom

Legislators sponsoring the Kratom Consumer Protection Act have been working the the Kratom Industry.  This act only protects the industry not consumers.

KRATOM NEWS CONFERENCE: Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick says the "public deserves to know that a product marketed as a safe herbal supplement is sitting on shelves at their local gas stations, carries the pharmacological profile of an opioid, and has been linked to deaths in the community." 

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.

JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (KCTV) - Kansas residents have mere days left to dispose of kratom and 7-OH products before they become illegal.
Beginning on July 1, Kansas law makes it illegal to possess, sell or purchase kratom, 7-OH and other controlled substances.
The law also adds HHC (hexahydrocannabinol) as a controlled substance and clarifies that all THC is illegal, regardless of concentration, if it is in a prohibited product type.

“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.”

Calls to poison centers about kratom, a drug widely available in vape shops and gas stations, increased more than 1,200% between 2015 and 2025, with a corresponding rise in hospitalizations, an alarming new UVA Health analysis reveals. 
Last year saw a record-high 3,434 reports, up from only 258 in 2015. The researchers say the dramatic increase – including a marked jump last year – reflects both the drug’s growing availability and the increasing potency of new formulations.

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.

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.

Novel semi-synthetic 7-hydroxymitragynine products pose public health risks due to the unknown chemical constituents and the known pharmacology of 7-hydroxymitragynine. Clinicians must screen patients for their use and policymakers must distinguish between kratom and 7-hydroxymitragynine.

The policy implications of semi-synthetic 7-hydroxymitraynine products are unknown, but adverse events or fatalities resulting from 7-hydroxymitragynine products could pose complications to the regulation of a growing kratom industry. Kratom is now used by 10–15 million US adults. Decisions regarding kratom scheduling and regulation are liable to become confused if policymakers can or will not differentiate between kratom and high-potency 7-hydroxymitragynine products synthesized in unregulated or makeshift laboratories. To be clear: equating 7-hdyroxymitragynine products to kratom is analogous to equating synthetic cannabinoids to unaltered cannabis or hemp. Although not all organic kratom products are equal, they have not emerged as a net detriment to public health, and they remain unscheduled at the federal level. Novel semi-synthetic 7-hydroxymitragynine products pose public health risks due to the unknown chemical constituents and the known pharmacology of 7-hydroxymitragynine. Clinicians must screen patients for their use and policymakers must distinguish between kratom and 7-hydroxymitragynine.

Researchers have raised particular concern about synthesized products that isolate chemicals like 7-hydroxymitragynine, saying they could carry risks that are different from the kratom leaf long used in Thailand or Malaysia. McCurdy said when that chemical is isolated, "it's no longer really a kratom product."

Kratom is not regulated as a controlled substance, though the Drug Enforcement Administration lists it as a “drug of concern.” The FDA has not approved kratom for any purpose, but supplements do not require the agency’s sign-off to be sold.

Kratom was the cause of 91 overdose deaths from July 2016 to December 2017, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But some estimates put the toll far higher: An analysis by The Washington Post found kratom listed as the leading or partial cause of death in at least 4,100 deaths from 2020 to 2022, and an investigation by the Tampa Bay Times last year found that more than 580 people in Florida alone had died from kratom-related overdoses since 2013.

The Times requested Florida autopsy reports citing kratom or one of its major chemical compounds, an alkaloid called mitragynine, as a cause of death or contributing factor dating back to 2010.
No news organization has ever done this on a large scale. The requests initially turned up more than 600 cases. Reporters handbuilt a database to track the overdoses and key details about them, including blood-mitragynine concentrations, contributing medical conditions and every substance flagged in a person’s system during toxicology testing.
A Times investigation found more than 580 fatal kratom-related overdoses in Florida.

As medical examiners log an increasing number of overdoses involving kratom across Florida and elsewhere, the industry has largely operated without government constraints or safety measures that could help protect consumers.
Florida lawmakers considered banning kratom three times in the past decade. But industry advocates successfully fought the efforts, ensuring powders, gummies and liquid extracts are readily available at gas stations and smoke shops from Pensacola to Miami. The products vary dramatically in strength — but manufacturers don’t have to disclose or limit their intensity at all.

He decided to try kratom, a dusty green psychoactive powder from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree. It was marketed as a safe way to ease anxiety and mimic the effects of opioids. It was legal, virtually unregulated and described as all-natural. He could find it at gas stations, cafes, smoke shops or online.
He took it regularly, including before paramedics were called to his home in April 2021.

Kratom Concerns
The escalation of importation, distribution, as well as online and retail sales of kratom products in the United States over the past two years raises numerous public health and safety concerns. Kratom is a tree, native to Southeast Asia that contains the drug mitragyna which produces both stimulant effects (in low doses) and sedative effects (in high doses) and can lead to addiction.  Kratom is mainly consumed orally as a tea, but it may also be smoked or its leaves may be chewed.
 
Consumption of kratom can lead to a number of health impacts, including

• respiratory depression,
• nervousness,
• agitation,
• aggression,
• sleeplessness,
• hallucinations,
• delusions,
• tremors,
• loss of libido,
• constipation,
• skin hyperpigmentation (darkening of the skin),
• nausea,
• vomiting, and
• severe withdrawal signs and symptoms. 

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"This is Florida's next crisis," Jacobs said. "We must at some point figure out how to become proactive rather than reactive to these kinds of efforts."