Tentatively, perhaps dorkily, photojournalist Mindy Schauer and I strolled into the first vape shop with a question.
“Do you have kratom and 7-OH?”
The young clerk grimaced. He sized us up — we are decidedly uncool and well into middle age — and shook his head “no.”
He wasn’t suggesting the shop had none; indeed, shelves stocked with the very kratom and 7-OH products that California has declared illegal and ordered removed from store shelves, were displayed magnificently behind him.
Instead, the clerk was saying that we should have none.
“It’s bad stuff,” he said gravely. “It’s sending people to rehab. You don’t want it.”
Oh, but we did. We walked out the door with a 10-tab box of Hydroxie 7-Hydroxymitragynine, 15 mg of the drug known as 7-OH ($22.08 with tax). The box offers this warning:
“BE SAFE! FREQUENT USE POSES A POTENTIAL RISK OF ADDICTION”
Aficionados have dubbed 7-OH “gas station heroin” and “legal morphine.” It induces an opioid-like euphoria that wears off quickly with a painful crash and has been linked to many deaths. It also is now legally verboten in California and, according to state officials, it has been cleared from almost every store licensed by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Most vape shops, however, are not licensed by Alcoholic Beverage Control but are, instead, licensed by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. That department, however, wouldn’t enforce a ban from the California Department of Public Health. And it seems many in the vape retailing world haven’t gotten the memo.
And so our kratom crawl continued. At our next stop, the displays of the illegal wares were just as extensive, but the clerk seemed oblivious to the drug’s dangers, and to the ban. We were encouraged to buy bigger bottles (better value for money!) and we left with a shiny neon packet of Truly 7 Obsidian 250 mg total (Baja Watermelon flavor!). We also got a bottle of 30 Krave botanical capsules of the Maeng Da Kratom variety (“PREMIUM QUALITY,” the box says). Total: $49.16.
An addictive product named “Krave?” Nice.
It was much the same at yet another shop, where we bought the “dietary supplement” 7-OHMZ (three tablets, 14 mg each) and a liquid version of Krave 7-Hydroxy for $55.21. It wasn’t until we hit a store in Tustin that the shopkeeper told us that kratom and 7-OH were illegal and unavailable. He produced a flyer from the city, in both English and Spanish, that read: “Attention Tustin Businesses: City ordinances prohibit the advertising and sale of cannabis, kratom and nitrous oxide within Tustin. Businesses are responsible for compliance with these local laws.”
The Orange County Board of Supervisors passed a prohibition on the sale, distribution or possession of synthetic kratom products last year. So have several cities.
Enforcement, however, seems to be an issue.
More powerful than morphine?
We told you recently that addiction medicine specialists are aghast over the consuming dependence that 7-OH, or “legal morphine,” can command.
It’s trumpeted as a relaxation drug and workout enhancer. It is sold as powders, teas, pills, edibles and liquid extracts, and marketed as a “natural remedy” that can ease pain and anxiety; even opioid withdrawal. But the “natural” products can be synthetic, behave like stimulants, and, for the user, result in rapid, wracking withdrawal. It’s highly addictive even for people who aren’t addicts and doesn’t respond as expected to the usual opioid withdrawal protocols, addiction medicine Dr. Joe Desanto told us.
This 7-OH is a potent derivative of the kratom plant, a tropical native to Southeast Asia. It binds to the brain’s opioid receptors with 14 to 22 times the affinity of morphine, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers. And withdrawal from 7-OH can last significantly longer than traditional opioid withdrawal — up to three months — a factor that complicates treatment and increases the risk of relapse, according to the International Society of Substance Use Professionals.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that over kratom was implicated — at least in part — in at least 846 fatal overdoses in 30 states and D.C. over a single year. In California, it was implicated in 242 deaths over a three-year period, with 27 blamed solely on “the illegal substance,” the California Department of Public Health said. By October, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health had tied six local deaths to kratom. The victims were otherwise healthy “with no other substances identified as substantively contributing to their deaths,” officials said.
In July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that concentrated 7-OH products be classified Schedule 1 drugs, along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy (meaning there are no currently accepted medical uses for the drugs and there is a high potential for abuse). The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is reviewing that request — slowly, apparently — and a decision is expected… soon.
Researchers warn, however, that bans do little to address addiction while moving users to back streets and the black market.
We also heard from several people passionately defending both kratom and 7-OH.
‘Protect the plant’
“Kratom isn’t causing hardly anybody any problems. It’s only the seven(-OH) that is the problem….It’s so addictive it should be illegal and has caused a great many people a great much suffering,” one reader told us.
Several organizations are standing up to defend 7-OH, including 7HopeAlliance, which is aimed at keeping the drug available, as well as the Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust and Haven Access.
“At 7Hope, we believe kratom and 7-OH can coexist safely and responsibly in our society — but misinformation is driving bans that threaten them both. We’re bringing the community together to push back with science, unity, and one clear message: protect the plant. Join the movement,” its position statement says.
HART bemoaned efforts to ban 7-OH, “which are largely driven by a kratom organization that views 7-OH as a threat to its market share. That group has paid scientists hundreds of thousands of dollars to make broad policy pronouncements based on very preliminary research and theory,” it said.
Haven frowns upon the data fueling prohibition. “Federal agencies have recommended Schedule I action specific to 7-OH, while broader state-level restrictions on kratom continue to expand. These proposals rely heavily on theoretical risk models, selective interpretation of data and precautionary assumptions rather than demonstrated real-world patterns of harm sufficient to justify criminalization. Access decisions with far-reaching consequences are being advanced without proportional evidence and without meaningful consideration of the lived experiences of individuals who rely on lawful access,” it said.
A person who identified herself as Allie Larson, but didn’t respond to follow-ups, shared thoughts with me that have been posted on several social media sites:
“I am writing to express my strong support for the responsible regulation of 7-hydroxymitragynine (7OH) and my opposition to outright prohibition. 7OH has completely changed my life for the better. After 19 years of living with chronic pain and multiple mental health disorders, I finally have a quality of life that I never thought was possible. I have tried countless treatments, medications, and therapies over the years, and 7OH has been the only thing that provided significant and consistent relief. To me, it has been life-changing.”
The answer is regulation, not prohibition, Larson’s note said, including age restrictions (21 and older), clear warning labels, product testing, lab verification and sales only through “reputable vendors.”
“If 7OH is taken away from me, I fear I will lose the quality of life I fought so hard to regain,” the note added.
“Many individuals use 7OH responsibly as a harm-reduction alternative and as a way to avoid more dangerous substances. An outright ban could push vulnerable people toward illicit drugs or more dangerous alternatives, potentially worsening overdose rates rather than improving public safety.”
Officials say….
We shared the details of our haul with the California Department of Public Health, Alcoholic Beverage Control Department, Department of Tax and Fee Administration, and the governor’s office.
At the local level, we alerted the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the county Health Care Agency and the county CEO’s office.
We wondered about oversight and enforcement. Are cities responsible for enforcing this ban? Is law enforcement and/or public health involved? And — what do I do with all the illegal products that I now have in my possession?!
The state Alcoholic Beverage Control folks — who proudly announced the near-total disappearance of kratom/7-OH products from the places it licenses — wouldn’t necessarily have authority over cigarette/tobacco/vape shops, as they don’t sell alcohol.
The state Tax and Fee Administration does license cigarette/tobacco/vape shops, but only has legal authority to enforce laws concerning cigarette, tobacco and cannabis-related products, officials said.
The Sheriff’s Department said this isn’t the type of enforcement it would typically handle.
Fingers are pointing at public health officials, and the California Department of Public Health said that, yes, enforcement is its responsibility.
Recent sweeps have seized more than $5 million worth of kratom and 7-OH products, and “CDPH continues to take action to remove products or raw materials containing kratom or 7-OH from retail facilities selling to consumers for consumption and from locations where these products are manufactured,” spokesperson Grant Boyken said.
Last week, the state sued Ashlynn Marketing Group, doing business as Krave Kratom, in San Diego County, asserting that the company continued manufacturing illegal products after the state banned them. No one answered the phones associated with Ashlynn/Krave, and no one responded to our email seeking comment.
So I suppose we won’t be returning products to them asking for a refund.
On what to do with the stash, the Sheriff’s Department referred us to DEA guidance re: kratom/7-OH: “If it is ever placed in a controlled schedule, only authorized DEA collectors or law enforcement can legally dispose of it. Until then, safe disposal should follow general pharmaceutical waste guidelines….”
That means mixing the stuff with an “undesirable substance,” such as coffee grounds, used tea bags or salt; placing it all in a sealed, non-recyclable container; and disposing of it in the regular trash or at a hazardous waste/drug take-back site. Avoid flushing, as it can clog pipes, the DEA says.
Anyway, SCNG no longer has a photo studio, so Schauer decided to photograph our stash on the sunny, deserted, top deck of a Tustin parking garage. It must have looked odd; a Tustin police car soon wound its way past us. We tried not to panic — we have illegal booty! — but the officers just nodded and smiled. What harm could two dorky middle-aged women possibly cause?
I can’t wait to file this expense report.