WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing to place certain concentrated kratom-related compounds in the strictest category of federal drug control, targeting products with elevated levels of substances linked to overdose deaths.
The powerful, largely unregulated products have been sold at gas stations, vape shops and online. The DEA has issued two notices of intent, based on recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to distinguish products containing naturally occurring kratom compounds from concentrated or enhanced formulations.
The action targets four substances associated with kratom: 7-hydroxymitragynine, known as 7-OH; mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, or MGPI; MGM-15; and MGM-16.
The compounds have recently drawn attention in connection with overdose deaths. According to court records, toxicology results found MGPI, MGM-15 and 7-OH in two University of Mississippi students who died last month.
“Dangerous and addictive opioids do not belong behind convenience store counters,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “Our nation’s children and communities deserve protection from harmful substances like 7-OH and other powerful synthetic drugs.”
The DEA said commercial products containing semi-synthetic 7-OH have proliferated in recent years. They are marketed online and sold in gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops as powders, tablets, capsules, gummies and dissolvable strips.
DEA laboratory testing found that these products often contain higher concentrations of 7-OH than occur naturally in botanical kratom, a plant native to Southeast Asia.
The proposed action would not apply to botanical kratom products containing naturally occurring 7-OH below specified thresholds. Instead, it targets synthesized products and formulations with elevated concentrations of the compound. The DEA says these products pose an imminent threat to public safety because of their unpredictable effects.
A national kratom advocacy group has also called for action. Matthew Lowe, executive director of the Global Kratom Coalition, warned during a media briefing last year that failing to address concentrated products could contribute to another wave of the opioid epidemic.
“They’re being sold as natural. They’re not. They’re being sold as kratom. They’re not,” Lowe said.
Lowe said some synthetic products are 13 times more potent than morphine and are being sold without regulation or a prescription.
“If you don’t think oxycodone should be sold in gas stations, you shouldn’t think these should be without a prescription,” said Dr. C. Michael White, who joined Lowe at the briefing.
Federal health officials have noted that although 7-OH occurs naturally in kratom leaves, it accounts for less than 2% of the plant’s alkaloid content. Manufacturers are now producing concentrated versions synthetically, creating products the Food and Drug Administration says pose opioid-like risks.
White compared the difference between natural kratom and concentrated synthetic 7-OH to the difference between apple seeds and cyanide. Apple seeds contain amygdalin, which can release hydrogen cyanide when chewed or digested. The amount naturally present in the seeds is generally too small to pose a significant risk under ordinary circumstances. Concentrating the compound synthetically, however, could make it dangerous.
“Is that still an apple?” White asked.
