On June 30, the Drug Enforcement Administration took steps to temporarily ban 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) products nationwide. You might think this is about public safety — but as a recent article showed, the kratom industry has been pushing bans like this because it doesn’t like the 7-OH competition.
But for folks like me, living with chronic pain, we need the president to stand up to this group known as Big Kratom — because we are the ones who will suffer if the ban takes effect.
Big Kratom argues that 7-OH is harmful while kratom is completely safe. Both kratom and its derivative, 7-OH, can be addictive. They owe their effects to compounds that act on the same receptors in the human brain.
Those facts don’t even begin to tell the whole story about their benefits as painkillers. Big Kratom would have you believe that their product is fine, but that 7-OH is not. That’s the story that’s being whispered in the president’s ear right now by people such as DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who has $1 million invested in kratom. But the reality is very different.
Kratom is a tropical plant whose leaves contain dozens of naturally occurring compounds. The most abundant is mitragynine, but the leaf also contains trace amounts of 7-OH, which the brain reacts to in a way that makes pain more bearable. Commercial 7-OH products contain higher concentrations of that same naturally occurring compound.
The best comparison is espresso and filter coffee. One is more concentrated than the other, but they’re fundamentally related.
Kratom is one of the tools I use to manage chronic physical and emotional pain that began as my wife was nearing the end of her life. I’d spent eight years caring for her as early-onset dementia slowly stripped away the personality and independence of the woman I loved. She died at just 59 years old.
Those were unimaginably difficult years. As her illness progressed, she wandered from home. She handled our finances but made mistakes before we realized how far things had gone. Shortly before she passed, I had to set an alarm to ensure that if she got out of bed, I was with her at every moment.
Today, I’m rebuilding my health from the ground up. Both kratom and 7-OH have helped me do that.
Over the past year, I’ve consumed roughly 300 milligrams of 7-OH, which averages to less than one milligram per day. If I’m genuinely in pain, I may take a small amount of kratom or 7-OH. If I’m not in pain, I don’t take it. It’s as simple as that.
If this rule takes effect, my method of pain relief would make me a felon. I, and millions of others like me, would face the possibility of heavy fines, time in prison, and a permanent criminal record. While we all want our fellow Americans to be safe, punishing neighbors seeking pain relief will do more harm than good.
I’m happy to concede there’s still work to be done in educating the public about the risks. But the culture and general awareness surrounding kratom and 7-OH have shifted considerably. When I recently visited a new kratom shop, the owner spent several minutes warning me about addiction. She seemed relieved when I told her I understood the risks and said that too many customers don’t appreciate how easily occasional use can become habitual use.
That’s exactly the sort of honesty patients deserve.
What troubles me is the possibility that Washington is being drawn into what increasingly resembles a commercial dispute.
If established industry interests persuade regulators to eliminate competing products, patients lose choices while one segment of the industry gains market share. That isn’t how public policy should work.
To be clear, I’m not arguing that 7-OH should exist in a regulatory vacuum.
Products that affect the brain and can create dependence should be manufactured responsibly, tested for purity, labeled accurately, and sold with clear warnings. Regulators should crack down on bad actors, contaminated products, and misleading advertising wherever they find them.
But those standards should apply consistently.
The government has an obligation to protect consumers from fraud, contamination, and genuinely unsafe products. It should not allow one industry to weaponize regulation against another.
If 7-OH deserves scrutiny because it can be addictive, then kratom warrants a similarly honest discussion. You can’t justify banning one for characteristics that exist, to differing degrees, in both.
BANNING 7-OH WOULD DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD
President Donald Trump is doing great work in healthcare, pushing forward with experiments with psychedelics for veterans and exploring innovative approaches to tackling chronic disease.
Pulling 7-OH off the market would be a step in the wrong direction. Trump has never supported state interference in the free market — and Americans overwhelmingly agree. I urge Republicans to listen to sense, not Big Kratom, and resist calls to ban 7-OH.
Bill Collier founded the political digital marketing agency Regal Blue Media. A patient advocate to honor his wife, Dora, his work has appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, USA TODAY, and Fox News Digital.