Nothing like experiencing dope sickness for the first time of your life at 40. 

Especially not from anything, according to conventional wisdom, that was presumably shady or dangerous. I mean, it was just kratom – marketed all over Facebook as a wellness and energy supplement. But this was not your grandma’s kratom. Nor like anything I had tried before except oxycontin.

You know kratom? Of course, you do. It’s 2025. But in case you’re living under a giant boulder the size of a boulder, kratom is a whole leaf plant consumed by millions of Americans for conditions like anxiety, chronic pain, and general wellness. The source of this miracle drug isare
the dried leaves of a tropical plant from Southeast Asia, mitragyna speciosa, ground into a fine powder and sold by itself or in capsules.  

The thing is kratom is rife with  naturally occurring alkaloids that make you feel good. 7-OH is one of them, and because it’s ostensibly easy to make and potent as a suckerpunch, it has become the demonic lab grown stepchild of kratom at breakneck speed. 

A few months ago I walked into a smokeshop on SOBO to pry on some kratom. It was not my first rodeo, having worked for a kratom company in the past, but I’m a talker so I asked the clerk for a recommendation. This totally clueless poor soul, who’s probably never taken kratom, asked me if I’ve heard of 7-OH. 

He explained it as concentrated kratom. Without asking too many questions, I copped a 3-pack and popped one as I walked out the door. By the time I landed home, walking on a cloud less than a half mile, I felt so good it was bad.

 I’m a former addict. Or is it always one? Kratom. Kratom. 

On July 29th, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, the eminently eminent Robert F Kennedy, held a surprising press conference. With other bureaucrats, a doctor, and doting expensive suits in tow, the full force of MAHA announced that 7-OH was new public enemy number one. 

The PSA was that 7-Oh is a super powerful and extremely addictive opioid, by definition, dangerously and falsely being marketed as kratom. Of note, it was reiterated a few times that the administration was not going to target kratom. If you’re a kratom user, relax, take a capsule.  

Kennedy, a former heroin addict, along with Senator Mullin of Okla, both expressed their personal stories and motivations for being present. Both lost loved ones to addiction.

Their mission was simple –  to prevent another opioid epidemic, and lives lost, by urging the DEA to classify 7-OH as a Schedule One substance as quickly as humanly possible.  In effect, removing it from gas stations, head shops, bodegas, and vape shops. Roughly the equivalent of locking up tens of thousands of drug dealers across the U.S. 

The fact that 7-OH got on the administration’s radar and became an urgent priority underscores the significance of the issue. Outside of the kratom community, however, 7-OH has lurked in relative obscurity. 

Who created this mess in the first place? And what is the kratom community doing and saying about it?

Faith Day has been a kratom advocate since 2016 and credits it for helping her overcome heroin addiction. After experiencing its harm-reduction benefits, she was inspired to share kratom as a recovery tool, and she continues that mission today as an entrepreneur. Faith is the owner of Clean Kratom, a popular brand and pair of kratom dispensaries in Denver and Portland, Oregon. She gets asked about 7-OH by her customers all the time. 

Her response: “I won’t sell 7-OH because it’s not kratom. Period.”

She says this on principle. Like so many in the kratom community, Faith is concerned that 7OH is being sold as kratom. Technically, it is an alkaloid found in kratom, but it is metabolized in such negligible amounts that equating the two is like saying myrcene, a terpene found in cannabis, is cannabis. 

Faith has major beef with this. 

“Kratom has always been about harm reduction and recovery for me, and 7-OH flips that on its head. It’s way more potent, way more addictive, and when shops market it as kratom, they’re lying to people and setting them up for harm. That’s not what I signed up for when I opened my doors, and I think anyone who cares about this plant and this community should draw the same line.”

Despite opposition from kratom advocates, there is a strong cohort of entrepreneurs who have pushed 7-OH into the mainstream. 

Among them is Vince Sanders, founder of CBD American Shaman, one of the largest and most influential smokeshops and nutraceutical manufacturers. His company sells 7-OH under its own brand, Advanced Alkaloids, as well as white-labels 7-OH products for other kratom brands.

Sanders beams with pride over his dopest of dope innovations-lavishing it with praise like once you try 7-OH there’s no going back. 

He also believes its haters are only looking out for their own interests – kratom companies who don’t want to lose their way to 7-OH’s growing popularity. 

Traditional kratom consumers are mixed in their perceptions of 7-OH as some feel it’s a good pain or anxiety alternative, like kratom, and others see it as a danger to people and threat to kratom’s legality. 

In January, the American Kratom Association (AKA) fired a warning shot to companies selling 7-OH as kratom. No more, they threatened, and if we catch you again we’re putting you on a naughty list. They weren’t fucking around. It’s still public and one can find references to well-intentioned  “kratom brands” like Kama Kratom, Ohmz, and Dozo Percs. You’re not even tripping. 

7OH is widely marketed as legal dope to dopers for getting doped up. Other brands with names to die for include Hydroxie, Roxy tabs, Opia, Press’d, and Smurphs— yes, like the adorable little blue bitches from the 80’s cartoon. And 7-OH ice cream cones. Kids, who’d like some morphine with your Moosetracks? And how could I forget the lean for the teens?

Clearly, the AKA has been worried as all hell that kratom will get clusterfucked into the public health crisis 7OH portends. Growing public resistance to plain leaf kratom is enough. 

Their concern came to a head in July when it issued another press release – this time more broad and flashing teeth. It applauded the FDA for sending warning letters to companies misleadingly selling 7-OH products, some previously identified as bad actors, and encouraged criminal prosecution if necessary. 

Now it seems the AKA has zero tolerance for 7-OH, and that comes at a time when the federal and state governments are ratcheting down their own. 

Colorado recently passed the Daniel Bregger Act, named for a young man who lost his life after ingesting too much kratom extract along with benadryl. His dad, David, now fights for stricter regulation on kratom, and helped pass this bill to protect people like Daniel from falling victim to kratom again. 

It targets 7-OH in two key ways. First, by limiting the amount of 7-OH in any kratom product to 2%. Second, by totally banning synthetic 7OH. The timing of it is crucial. Not only is 7-OH everywhere in CO, but it’s increasingly being marketed on social media.

In Spring of 2025 my Facebook was bombarded with ads tempting me to try it for free (I actually did), buy more for less, and the best one, go big or go home. In one ad a “Hero dose” was marketed – 100mg. I can’t even fathom it.  

As these ads would not take no for an answer, and I thought about the risk of mixing algorithms and dope, I started to take a seat in the comment sections and reflect on what I was going through. Holy shit mother of God. For any given ad dozens of people chimed in with horror stories, looking for help, and offering warnings to others.  

Here’s a free sample. 

“I took a single 15mg pill one day, experiencing mild withdrawals for two days so far just from that. Yes it was very very strong and pleasant, but totally not worth the comedown. Stay far away. 

And this.

“Works amazing, yes. Expensive, yes. Run out of money when rent comes and can’t afford it then have the worst detox of your life and you’ve done fetty, yes.”

Lucky for me, I was able to stop my spiraling use of 7-OH, and lucky for all of us, the MAHA clique has taken notice of this smoke shop dope. However, the runway for the DEA scheduling 7-OH could be a long one – think of cannabis’ timeline – and until then people are at risk due to its everyday availability and affordability.

As of September 2025, Facebook is still regularly running 7-OH ads. Smoke shops in my neighborhood are still stalked to the gills with 7-OH. No one seems to have noticed the Daniel Bregger Act, and the craziest thing, you can now find places selling 7OH for as little as $1.00 on the internet. If you don’t have the money upfront, you can even buy now and pay later. 

While CO has limited ability to stop all of this, it’s worth admitting Mr. Kennedy was right on this one – the DEA should move to immediately classify 7-OH as a scheduled, regulated substance. Doing so will save lives from being ruined by addiction.