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Dr. Lief Fenno, chair of the American Psychiatric Association Council on Addiction Psychiatry, believes kratom has escaped scrutiny because it does not bind to receptors in the brain the same way that drugs like heroin and morphine do. The "Quitting Kratom" subreddit has 52,000 members and several posts a day from people documenting their journeys trying to quit kratom and 7-OH. Earlier this year, Botanic Tonics settled an $8.75 million class-action lawsuit filed in March 2023 that accused the company of falsely marketing its kratom tonic as a healthy alternative huntington blogs to alcohol. Makary also made clear during that same news conference that the organization's focus is on 7-OH, not kratom overall.

Opia High Potency Classic Mitragynine Tablets 240mg, 4 tablets

That’s partly because kratom’s relative newness makes it undetectable in standard drug testing. Between 2020 and 2025, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner recorded 91 deaths in which kratom or its primary active compound, mitragynine, was identified as either a cause or contributing factor. “Or even in some cases, people say you can use it, too, if you’re trying to fight other opioid addictions.” Derived from the kratom tree, the drug has a long history in places like Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia.

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You should store kratom according to the product label. These effects may depend on the dose that is used, but the actual effects of kratom are not well understood. Products that contain kratom are made from the leaves of this plant. Some common reasons that people use kratom include the following. Before taking kratom, make sure to tell your health care provider about any health conditions you have or medicines you are taking.

• Last year, California was on its way to having statewide regulation for kratom products.
• While Kratom is often marketed as a natural alternative for pain relief or to manage opioid withdrawal, the U.S.
• In 2016, the DEA announced plans to add it to the government’s most restrictive schedule 1, reserved for drugs that have no medical use and a high potential for abuse.
• The leaves from a tree native to Southeast Asia, kratom is an herbal medicine with effects similar to opioids.
• 7-hydroxymitragynine is not approved by the FDA as a dietary ingredient.
• FDA commissioner Martin Makary spoke alongside Kennedy while announcing their plan to initiate the process to have 7-OH scheduled as an illicit substance.

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"I think people are buying these drinks like Feel Free thinking they're healthy alternatives to alcohol," Dr. Poorman added. "What we're learning, over the years, is that there does seem to be a kratom use disorder emerging," he said. "I started working on this over 20 years ago," said Christopher McCurdy, an internationally recognized kratom expert and professor of medicinal chemistry at University of Florida Health. Data from the National Poison Control Center shows reports related to kratom more than doubled in 2025. As a result, the company also had to strengthen labelling on the bottles, adding the product "may be habit-forming and harmful" and noting it's made for use by people aged 21 and older.

Is Kratom Safe?

"If Kevin had truly been warned about the true nature of the psychoactive components of this drug, he never would have used it," Norden said. Botanic Tonics' own website described the product as being no more habit-forming than caffeine or alcohol. Joseph Osborne and Andrew Norden, the attorneys representing the Oliveiras, say Botanic Tonics marketed the drink as a "plant-based herbal supplement" delivering "a clean energy boost without the jitters" and "a social lift without the booze." Other states are pursuing their own actions, but Florida is one of just two states that give their attorney general the power issue an emergency to schedule a drug.

It has been proven to be highly addictive and easily can be overdosed,” he said during the press conference announcing the ban. “It is chemically manipulated in a way where it's very dense, and actually, I'm told by medical experts, can be up to up to 13 times more potent than morphine. Kratom has increased in popularity in both leaf and extract forms around the U.S.