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Kennedy Whips 7-OH, the Seditious Cousin of Kratom
Get ready, all, because this is probably the most bizarre product raid you’ll’ve heard of in some time. The FDA and the Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are after 7-OH, or 7-hydroxymitragynine, the free-spirited relative of kratom that’s been living its best, unregulated life. You’ve likely spotted this party-in-a-pint-sized-pack slinking through convenience mart aisles or vape shops lately. The good times, though, are maybe living on borrowed time.
What is 7-OH, and Why is 7-OH in Trouble?
A mini-pr primer for non-gas-station types. Kratom is in itself a leaf that is toasted in some corners of the internet as a herbal opioid and poor man’s substitute. But 7-OH? Not in the daily herbal cup. Imagine kratom on peptides. It attaches to your opioid receptors in the brain in the manner of a tike ripping open a packet of sweets.
Of course the FDA is not pleased. With the opioid disaster so recent in all of our minds, anything that even whiffs of addiction is a RED FLAG PROD. 7-OH, in ultra-concentrate, is having them grab for the panic button.
Proposal of Kennedy for Crackdown of 7-OH
Kennedy and the FDA are okay with 7-OH’s simple fate: restricting it to Schedule I status. For those that do not recall, that is the same designation as heroin and LSD, the drugs we learned to be afraid of in health school back in the day. If they get their wish, adiós 7-OH in convenience store bottles, in vending machines (yes, that is a real thing), and everywhere else that is distributing “gas station specials.”
That’s the problem. Not everyone is so eager to wave out the “Mission Accomplished” flags. While 7-OH’s champions proclaim the substance is addictive and deadly, critics are crying tears of skepticism so rampant they may never get the hang of things, questioning the absence of hard evidence in support of the radical scheduling.
The FDA vs. Vape Shops and the Gas Station Wellness Center
The kicker here—in short, if you’re not quite certain why the FDA is taking a glance around vape shops now, they’re the wild west of “wellness” products. Psychoactive bars of candy? Why not. Snack products laced with THC? Why not. A teeny bite-sized good that’s also called “gas station heroin”? Oh yes, that’s the actual nickname of some of the seedy products that line the shelves.
The issue? These products are unsafe as heck. Hhallucinations, seizures, and injuries that no one the consumer wanted. The 7-OH bust is also a larger show of force, sending the industry the message that the party’s over.
A Cloudy RelationshipI
Not all, of course, belong to the “ban 7-OH now” club. Johns Hopkins’s Dr. Kirsten Elin Smith positioned herself for gross-out descriptions when 7-OH got momentum. Spoiler alert? There was none. Of course, some claimed that it is addictive, but others celebrated the pain-relieving abilities.
That’s the good ol’ fashioned push-pull of a novel product disrupting the status quo. The enthusiasts are chanting, “More research!” while others are speculating, “Not our first rodeo with addictive substances going south in the end.”
Splits in Opinions and the Skeptical Future
Not to everyone’s surprise, the reaction is mixed. The American Kratom Association praised Senator Kennedy’s initiative, criticizing unscrupulous manufacturers that, in their minds, transformed kratom from a sedate herbal remedy into a downright chemical Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr.-Hyde affair.
Others, like Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust’s Jeff Smith, are in the doorway, arms crossed, and chanting, “Show me the receipts!” He, like so many others in doubt, believes that the proof of such radical approaches does not exist. Now comes the long, winding path of official scheduling. The DEA will then consider 7-OH’s likelihood of risk and abuse before deciding its fate. Until then, you’ll still be able to buy 7-OH in every form that exists (gummies, chewies, whatever you can stuff in your back pocket) in smoke shops and through the internet. The Bigger Picture Kennedy’s 7-OH call-out isn’t culminating in a lone psychoactive molecule. It’s a notification that the back-alley Frankenstein’s chemistry that shows up in vape shops and convenience shops hasn’t gone unrecognized. You may call the action praise-deserving or nanny-state, but here’s the thing that’s for certain, the FDA does not wish to be identified “asleep at the wheel” again. Will 7-OH be the latest evil substance to be removed from the shelves, or is all of this simply the latest installment in the long history of the love-hate affair of America with natural supplements? Only time will tell—but in the meantime, you might avoid the health section of the gas station. Because the truth is? Gas station heroin need never have entered your vocabulary.
