AMA strengthens policy to highlight risks of kratom products American Medical Association

The substance’s effect on an individual is highly variable, depending on the dose, concentration, method of ingestion, and the user’s personal medical and drug-taking history. Kratom advocates say the negative press and push to criminalize kratom are fueled more by corporate greed than actual health concerns. Stories of relatives coming home to find a loved one dead, a cocktail of kratom and orange juice in their hand, darken the all-natural image suppliers have concocted over the years. Medical examiners pointed to a lethal dose of mitragynine, the chemical compound known as kratom, as his cause of death.

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• Supporters of natural leaf kratom said the president was referring to the trace amount of 7-OH – usually no more than 2% – found in unadulterated kratom.
• It is often sold in concentrated forms and is more potent and addictive.
• Kratom bans have also been the most frequent tool employed by localities, such as Albuquerque (NM), Kansas City (MO), Nassau County (NY), and Spokane (WA), to try to limit the presence of kratom in their communities.

Some countries, like Indonesia and Thailand, have recently moved toward regulated legal production for medical use. Kratom has been used for managing chronic pain, for treating opioid withdrawal symptoms, or for recreational purposes. In 2019, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that there is no evidence that kratom is safe or effective for treating any condition. Kratom contains multiple alkaloids (primarily, mitragynine and to a lesser extent, 7-hydroxymitragynine) that bind to opioid receptors, mostly as partial μ-opioid agonists.

They are chemically altered substances that carry potent opioid-like effects and pose an imminent threat to consumers,” Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy at AKA, said in a statement. “We are targeting a concentrated synthetic byproduct that is an opioid.” Some of these souped-up products contain 109% to 509% more 7-OH than what’s naturally in the plant. “These people find it difficult to control their use of kratom and experience opioid-like withdrawal symptoms when they stop.” “In the past two years, I have noticed an increased number of people coming to my clinic for the treatment of kratom addiction,” Volpicelli said. Its popularity has soared in the US in recent years, with many turning to it as a so-called natural fix for pain, anxiety, depression and even to kick opioid addiction.

In July 2025, the FDA formally recommended that the DEA place 7-hydroxymitragynine on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Kratom and its alkaloids remain unscheduled at the federal level, but that status is currently under active review. The short answer is that it depends on where you live and what type of product you're buying. However, not everyone supports regulation or a ban. CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A new push aims to regulate a popular drug sold in smoke shops around Tennessee. All information presented here is not meant as a substitute for or alternative to information from health care practitioners.

• A new University of Virginia Health analysis shows a sharp rise in kratom-related calls to poison centers across the United States.
• Every discounted Super Speciosa product is the same high-quality, lab-tested kratom that meets our strict purity and safety standards.
• We do not offer free shipping on all products at this time, only on special free shipping sale days.
• According to animal studies conducted by McCurdy and other UF researchers, certain compounds in Kratom may also be useful for treating opioid addiction, though no human trials have been performed.
• He said its kava and kratom drinks and sense of community helped him stop using drugs, and he has been sober three years.

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Emily Beutler says she became addicted to kratom in 2022 after trying a tea with it at a kava bar in Arizona. "These are not drug people that I talk to for the vast majority of them," he says. At first, he says, he used kratom like an energy drink. "And so, the argument can be made that they're not opioids, because they don't have a specific shape like opioids. And that's despite the fact that they work in a very similar way." "The shapes of these molecules from kratom are very different than the shapes of things like morphine or fentanyl," Fenno says. "We've been huntington blogs advocating for exactly this type of regulatory approach − one that protects consumers from synthetic derivatives while preserving access to traditional botanical ingredients with centuries of safe use," Korehbandi said.

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The AKA remains committed to advancing science-based regulation, protecting consumers from dangerous synthetic and chemically manipulated 7-OH opioid products, and preserving access to properly manufactured natural kratom leaf products that meet established safety and quality standards. The FDA itself has warned consumers about concentrated 7-OH products, and both HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary have emphasized that federal enforcement efforts are focused on chemically manipulated 7-OH products rather than properly manufactured natural kratom leaf products. Current federal and state actions specifically target concentrated 7-OH products, not natural kratom leaf.

It made my gut sick,” said Loring’s mom, Jennifer Young, after discovering 20 packs of kratom near Loring’s room. Warnings about the addictive nature of kratom have gone viral on social media platforms such as TikTok amid the spread of drinks like Feel Free, a tonic with kratom in it. Between 2011 and 2017, national poison control centers fielded 1,807 calls about kratom exposures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For now, kratom is technically legal, though some states are launching their own crackdown.

Federal Legal Status in 2026

That happens when the liver processes and converts mitragynine, another kratom alkaloid, into even more 7-OH. Trump’s remark about “natural 7-OH” soon became a Rorschach test for rival advocacy groups in the kratom industry. The HOPE Act wants to test “ibogaine as a medication to treat opioid use disorder, co-occurring substance use disorder, and other neurological or mental health conditions for which ibogaine demonstrates efficacy.” When lawmakers banned kratom in Tennessee earlier this year, it became the eighth state to do so.

AKA works to give a voice to millions of Americans by fighting to protect their rights to access safe and natural kratom. American Kratom Association (AKA) is a consumer-based, nonprofit organization, focused on furthering the latest science as guidance for kratom public policy. The AKA strongly supports federal and state actions targeting chemically manipulated 7-OH products.

In fact, the Association has consistently advocated for strict regulation and scheduling of chemically converted 7-OH opioids that are marketed as kratom despite possessing pharmacological characteristics far removed from natural leaf material. That is fundamentally inconsistent with the narrative that natural kratom leaf is itself a significant public health threat.” They are highly concentrated opioids manufactured through chemical conversion processes that fundamentally alter the natural composition of kratom.” For example, Tennessee has explicitly banned synthetic alkaloids while permitting natural plant products. According to agency statements, natural kratom leaf products are not the focus of this action. New York state assembly member Phil Steck co-sponsored bipartisan legislation that passed this month – which the governor must still approve – would ban 7-OH but not so-called natural kratom products.