Feds Crack Down on Kratom-Related Drugs
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will move four kratom-related drugs to the most restrictive legal category, the DOJ announced Friday, following new HHS guidance.
The coming regulations move products with more than a certain amount of 7-OH (7-hydroxymitragynine), MGPI (mitragynine pseudoindoxyl), MGM-15 and MGM-16 into Schedule I, a legal category reserved for drugs with a high potential for abuse and no medical application.
“Dangerous and addictive opioids do not belong behind convenience store counters,” Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a press release on October 9.
“Our nation’s children and communities deserve protection from harmful substances like 7-OH and other powerful synthetic drugs.”
7-OH is a psychoactive chemical 13 times more powerful than morphine.
Small amounts of 7-OH form naturally in tree leaves used to make kratom. The most common drug in the leaves is mitragynine — another, weaker psychoactive chemical. Mitragynine turns into 7-OH when the human body digests it.
The DEA lists natural kratom as a Drug of Concern but does not regulate it.
7-OH can also be manufactured when the leaves used to make kratom are dried and processed in certain ways. The resulting products can contain as much as 500% more 7-OH than those with unaltered kratom.
Gas stations and grocery stores across the country have been flooded with ultra-powerful, concentrated 7-OH products. The FDA believes 7-OH will become the next wave of the opioid epidemic, in part, because of how easy it is to access.
“This dangerous opioid is sitting on store shelves, making gas stations and convenience stores risky places where kids can purchase these drugs as easily as buying candy,” the administration warned in a brochure about the drug.
MGPI, MGM-15 and MGM-16 are derivatives of 7-OH — and even more powerful.
Only MGPI occurs naturally. Some evidence suggests tiny amounts of the compound may be present in the tree leaves used to make kratom. When the human body digests 7-OH, it turns into MGPI.
The DOJ already made MGPI, MGM-15 and MGM-16 Schedule I drugs on August 25, a temporary restriction which will last for two years.
The DEA will adjust order to reflect HHS’ new guidelines, which recommend products with more than a certain amount of MGPI, or MGPI and 7-OH combined, be made Schedule 1.
Products with any amount of MGM-15 and MGM-16 will remain Schedule 1.
The federal government’s crackdown on souped-up kratom products can’t come fast enough. Less than a month ago, two University of Mississippi students were found dead next to identical packages of kratom pills.
Aidan Hamilton, 18, and Robert Strang, 20, both died in Oxford, MS on September 21. Though the students were found in different places, both died next open packs of the same brand of kratom pills.
On Monday, a toxicology report reviewed by Fox News Mississippi confirmed both Hamilton and Strang had mitragynine, MGPI and MGM-15 in their systems when they died.
Products with MGPI and MGM-15 had been banned for nearly a month by then.
Though the students’ official cause of death has not been confirmed, authorities reportedly believe it was an overdose. In court documents from the case of the two men arrested for selling the kratom pills to Hamilton and Strang, prosecutors wrote:
Whether its “natural” or a more potent form, kratom consumption can cause addiction and death. Parents, please warn your kids about this dangerous substance still sold in convenience stores and online.
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