‘They’re Fucking a Lot of People’: 7-OH Users Brace for DEA Ban

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A couple months after completing detox for alcohol in June 2023, Cam got into a brutal motorcycle accident.

The 36-year-old upstate New York resident woke up hospitalized in late September after a month in a coma. “I broke every rib, every vertebrae. My pelvis was completely shattered,” says Cam, who asked to be identified by his first name because he is discussing drug use. He needed a spinal fusion and was unable to return to his job in car parts manufacturing.

“I was in pain 24/7,” Cam says.

He needed serious painkillers, and he says the 15 milligrams of oxycodone a day he was prescribed wasn’t cutting it.

“I didn't sleep for months. I would literally scream in agony, like crying, screaming uncontrollably,” he says. (Dosing for opioids can vary greatly depending on a person’s tolerance and pain level, but 15 mg is not considered a high dose—and Cam notes he used to take “20 times that” when he struggled with addiction in the past.)

In early 2024, he says he was served an Instagram ad for a free sample of 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH—a potent compound found in kratom that activates a person’s opioid receptors. The pain relief was “right on par” with a higher dose of oxycodone, he says. While 7-OH is available in gas stations and smoke shops around the country, Cam has turned to buying it in bulk online, spending around $500 for an order that lasts him a month. It’s allowed him to be more active and do chores around the house, or even go for a car ride without being in pain.

But all that is in jeopardy now, as the Drug Enforcement Administration plans to place 7-OH onto Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act—the same category as heroin—along with similar compounds MGM-15 and MGM-16. The temporary ban, to take place August 5 at the earliest, will be in effect for two years, with the option to extend it for an additional year as the DEA works toward permanently scheduling the substances. Already, a dozen states have banned 7-OH.

“Given its pharmacological profile as an opioid agonist and high abuse potential, the marketing of 7-hydroxymitragynine products to consumers as botanical supplements constitute a significant public health risk,” reads the DEA’s notice of intent about the proposed ban. The Food and Drug Administration does not regulate “dietary supplements” for safety and efficacy before they hit the market.

Some people have gone broke after their 7-OH tolerances escalated, leading to higher doses—one user tells WIRED prior to quitting, he was spending $175 every four to five days, but felt so sick he stopped working, and eventually couldn’t pay rent.

The DEA notes that people are using the unregulated dietary supplements to self-medicate chronic pain. Cam acknowledges he’s doing just that—and he’s terrified of having the treatment taken away.

“They're fucking a lot of people,” he says of the DEA. “It's caused me so much anxiety.”

The DEA’s action comes amid a wider rift between the mainstream kratom industry, which says 7-OH should not be classified as kratom because it’s much more potent, and 7-OH proponents who say the drug is helpful to many people and can’t be separated from kratom.

In pursuing a federal ban on manufacturing, sales, and possession, the Trump administration has sided with the kratom lobby. Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy called the 7-OH industry “sinister” at a press conference last July, claiming that the products are “marketed for children,” in part because they are sometimes sold as brightly colored gummies. Department of Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin has also supported a crackdown on 7-OH. As WIRED has previously reported, both Kennedy and Mullin have strong ties to the kratom industry. (HHS did not respond to a request for comment.)

Because kratom—a Southeast Asian plant that has analgesic properties—naturally contains only trace amounts of 7-OH, it will not meet the threshold of the DEA ban. However, some users of both “natural” kratom products and 7-OH have suffered from withdrawal symptoms after they’ve stopped taking the respective substances.

Cam says he’s “dependent” on 7-OH, as well as MGM-15, which he started using because it lasts longer. “It definitely feels like shit to come off of, like any other opiate,” he says. But he says it’s worth it for the quality of life the drugs have given back to him.

In addition to alcohol, Cam previously struggled with addictions to prescription opioids and heroin. He credits 7-OH with helping him stay off booze, but notes, “I can see that being a struggle again when I’m back to being in pain and miserable.” While he says he’s committed to not going back to using street opioids, he fears that will be the case for many 7-OH users once the ban kicks in, possibly leading to a spike in overdose deaths.

Reddit and Discord channels, including r/quitting7oh, which has 11,000 members, are filled with advice about how to taper off the drug. That includes what supplements or medications might help ease withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, insomnia, and chills.

Archie, a pharmacy student who asked to use a pseudonym to avoid professional repercussions, started using 7-OH in March to treat pain stemming from an abscess in his jaw.

“I think I was three weeks in when I realized that when I skipped a dose, I was going into severe withdrawal,” he says. He continued using 7-OH until the end of the semester, he says, because “I could not do anything without it. I couldn't think. I couldn't sit still. I would have been drenched in sweat.”

When he checked out the brand he’d been using on a third-party testing site, it had been given an F grade because it was stronger than advertised and contained MGM-15, which wasn’t listed on the label. MGM-15 can be derived from 7-OH and also functions as a potent synthetic opioid.

Once school was out, Archie checked himself into a detox center where he was given buprenorphine—an opioid used to help people with opioid addiction by staving off their cravings—in increasingly lower doses.

Petros Levounis, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and chief of service at University Hospital, says he sees a handful of patients in the emergency room a month who are seeking help with either kratom or 7-OH withdrawal. He says it’s become more common, and that physicians have also become more aware of it as it’s become more popular; kratom has been marketed as a wellness product, and podcasters like Joe Rogan and Andrew Huberman have talked about the drug’s effects. Doctors use a similar detox protocol to opioid withdrawal, but “it's still quite a novel substance. We haven't fully wrapped our heads around how to treat it best.”

While Levounis doesn’t think a federal ban is a bad idea, he is also doubtful that it will have much impact.

In advance of the ban, some people who can afford it and don’t want to quit are stockpiling. One California-based 7-OH user tells WIRED the compound has eased her severe anxiety and jaw pain associated with temporomandibular joint disorders, while helping her stay off street drugs she’s used in the past like fentanyl. She says she has a “substantial amount” of 7-OH at home and is adding to it.

Several users tell WIRED they think 7-OH should be better regulated, with testing and clear labels that state it can be addictive. They also say it shouldn’t be sold at gas stations.

“How can a developed nation like the United States have products on the shelf that do not contain what the labeling states it contains, whether it be melatonin or whether it be 7-OH?” says Archie.