Kratom addiction alarm grows in US as RFK Jr targets 7-OH: What is it and how can it impact your health?

Kratom is in the spotlight in the United States. Kratom is a tropical tree (Mitragyna speciosa) that is native to Southeast Asia and products prepared from kratom leaves are available in the U.S. through sales on the Internet and at brick-and-mortar stores, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Kratom is often used to self-treat conditions such as pain, coughing, diarrhea, anxiety and depression, opioid use disorder, and opioid withdrawal. Last week, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced that the Trump administration has recommended that a compound called 7-OH be scheduled as an illicit drug. The compound is a by-product of the Kratom plant whose ground leaves are sold as a dietary supplement to boost energy or provide pain relief.

What is Kratom?

According to USA Today, products containing the plant ingredient kratom are sold across the country at gas stations, liquor stores and smoke shops. They come in drinks, capsules and powders with medical experts having warned that it can be highly addictive, producing effects similar to those of opioids and opiates. They are available in three forms: beverages, capsules, and powder and some are even available in brightly colored packaging.


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Kratom has gained massive popularity in the US following a viral TikTok video and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's recent press conference. Dr. Timothy Fong, a UCLA addiction psychiatrist, told USA Today the ability of companies to put large amounts of kratom into otherwise innocuous-looking products has made it more susceptible to abuse.

RFK Jr's crackdown on 7-OH

During a July 29 press conference, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Martin Makary announced the organization's intention to crackdown on products containing 7-OH; however, Makary also made clear during that press conference that the organization's focus is on 7-OH, not kratom overall.

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FDA officials said 7-OH has a “high risk of addiction” and abuse because of its ability to bind to opioid receptors in the brain. The compound is found in trace amounts in the kratom plant, and the FDA’s move is aimed at products with concentrated levels of 7-OH.

“We have a history in public health of being asleep at the wheel,” Makary said. “Public health is supposed to prevent disasters, not just clean them up after they’ve killed thousands and thousands of people.”

“Today, we’re taking action on 7-OH as a critical step in the fight against opioid addiction,” RKF Jr said during a July 29 press conference. “We will protect the health of our nation’s youth as we advance our mission to Make America Healthy Again.”

"I spent 14 years a heroin addict, and I've been 43 years in recovery," Kennedy said during the press conference. "I've had iron willpower for most of my life. ... This compulsion was absolutely impervious to my will, and part of the problem was just the availability."

Makary alongside with RFK Jr announced their plan to initiate the process to have 7-OH scheduled as an illicit substance. That will happen if the Drug Enforcement Administration approves the FDA's sanction after review.

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Is Kratom addictive?

Medical experts told USA TODAY that while kratom and 7-OH remain largely understudied, all kratom products pose a risk of addiction—not just those marketed with 7-OH. Some individuals said their dependency was solely on kratom-based products and that they had never used ones containing synthetic 7-OH. For others, kratom use served as a gateway to trying products with synthetic 7-OH.

Though there are multiple kratom products on the market, but one particular drink has gone viral in recent weeks. On July 25, a TikToker under the name @yourbestimisha posted a video that now has over 19 million views, in which he described how a teenage boy tried stealing his wallet outside a gas station after he refused to go inside to buy the boy a Feel Free tonic containing kratom.

A representative for Botanic Tonics, the company behind Feel Free, told USA TODAY its Feel Free Classic tonic contains only natural leaf kratom, with nearly undetectable levels of 7-OH.