DEA to Temporarily Schedule 7-Oh and Related Substances to Protect Public Safety

>All when you can dry a leaf and use it as-is.

With no evidence of efficacy that the aforementioned expensive years of testing/trials provide.

> People say "let doctors prescribe", but that ignores how in order for that to happen, a pharma company will need something they can patent, pay for the years of testing, get sole control over it for a period, and years later a generic can come about.

Is there not universies that could just do this research on the leaf itself?

Raw leaf Kratom seems to be helpful for some with what I would consider a manageable and acceptable addiction danger. You can get hooked on it, realize there is an issues and cut back or come off it without it destroying your life. I see no reason to make it illegal. I've even seen is used by people to get off "harder" Kratom concentrates. Sorta like how we regulate beer and wine a bit differently than whiskey... same drug, same abuse potential in theory but massive abuse difference in practice.

If it actually has beneficial uses let a doctor prescribe it. Kratom is extremely addictive and should be illegal yesterday.

This was happening during the early 2000s, though in more "reputable" places (like nutrition and supplement stores; different "drugs" and chemicals, though). Not really surprised it is still going on in the weird little label producers.

>Seriously addictive drugs being sold OTC

Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in existence and it is sold everywhere. If governments actually cared about addiction risk, a whole lot of things would have to disappear from normal stores.

My opinion is that long term daily kratom use is terrible for your health, but it doesn't carry an overdose risk so it should stay legal and the decision to use or not should be up to the user.

Gas stations have the best drugs

> It is hard for me to read the combination of these two bans as anything but active malice.

Reading the document...

> In recent years, online forum users have begun to discuss recreational use of these four synthetic opioids and commonly compared these four synthetic opioids to other traditionally abused opioids, such as morphine and fentanyl (schedule II substances). However, unlike these two drugs that have FDA-approval for use in specific medical treatments, the four synthetic opioids have no currently approved medical use and, based on positive identifications of these four substances in forensic drug exhibits and toxicology samples, are likely to be trafficked and abused similarly to other synthetic opioids, such as brorphine (schedule I).

I first learned of kratom in the last year from Elijah Lemard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z5ixJIqbGY&t=267s

He's an odd guy who likes to investigate some really dodgy stuff. And I suspect many here on HN would appreciate him.

That led to 7-OH showing up in my feed at some point. In a nutshell, it's the strongest of the active compounds in the kratom plant, that binds to opioid receptors. 7-OH is the marketing name for the alkaloid 7-hydroxymitragynine that is being refined from kratom. It's not clear to me if it's simply extracted, or as some quick research suggests, it might also be a chemical alteration of the more commonly occurring compound in kratom mitragynine.

Anyway, this stuff looks super habit forming, and, of course, the refined version is that much more addictive.

Synthetic opioids sold at gas stations.

Kratom is a leaf that is primarily farmed in Asia which contains the active ingredient Mitragynine, which has some very mild partial-agonist opioid effects. When kratom is consumed, your liver converts a very small amount to a MUCH more potent molecule called 7-hydroxymitragynine. As with all natural drugs, some asshats in a lab decided to figure out how to create the latter molecule semi-synthetically and in bulk. They pressed them into pills and sell them in head shops and some gas stations. It's pretty addictive, nasty stuff.

> I would’ve thought that following FDA’s announcement last year, kratom had already been outlawed.

The FDA can say you can't sell it as a supplement or food. But they can't stop you from possessing it or selling it as a chemical.

When the DEA schedules it, it is illegal to possess or sell in any capacity.

Feel Free (and similar) extracts like this are especially onerous. It's no longer Kratom powder that takes a lot of effort to get into trouble with.

These extracts are not very well studied, and may be stronger than many Schedule II opioids. Especially for certain brain chemistries.

In no world should Feel Free execs not be in prison at this point. They know precisely what they are doing, and their marketing is especially nasty since they market it towards addicts as a safe alchohol alternative.

Kratom powders of 15 years ago can be defended in many ways. These extracts have absolutely no leg to stand on. They are an end-around opioid scheduling.

This doesn't ban Feel Free and similar products because they don't contain 7-OH. They just contain powdered Kratom leaf.

It’s wild that this stuff has remained unregulated for so long. Usually that can be attributed to the demographics (perceived or real) of the users though.

Chopping the dick off of a dead raccoon on the side of the road with your wife and kids in the car is pretty low. Even for an elected official..

His brain worm had a bad experience with Kratom once

I know very little of this but it seems like not all things kratom are affected.

> This temporary scheduling action does not apply to botanical kratom products that contain naturally occurring 7-OH below the specified threshold. Instead, it targets synthesized products and those containing elevated concentrations of 7-OH as outlined in the temporary scheduling order. DEA believes these substances pose an imminent threat to public safety given their effects are highly unpredictable.

Kratom is great. I used to make a kratom chai tea, felt similar to hydrocodone

Yep, go to the same place as cocaine and fentanyl which luckily nobody ever uses right?