The U.S. Food and Drug Administration took a step to add the opioid-like psychoactive compound 7-OH found in the kratom plant to the schedule of controlled substances.
The FDA plans to add the compound to Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning the product has a high misuse potential and no medical purpose. The compound 7-OH, or 7-hydroxymitragynine, has been linked to binding with opioid receptors in the brain, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The move targets high concentrations of 7-OH, or 7-hydroxymitragynine, which can occur naturally in the kratom plant. Kratom is a naturally occurring plant from Southeast Asia that has been used for centuries in herbal medicine, and is currently unregulated in the U.S.
“We’re not targeting the kratom leaf or ground-up kratom,” FDA commissioner Marty Makary said. “We are targeting a concentrated synthetic byproduct that is an opioid.”
Makary said he is concerned about the rising popularity of 7-OH in products sold in vape stores, smoke shops and grocery stores. He said the move to schedule the substance is a preventative measure.
“We have a history in public health of being asleep at the wheel,” Makary said. “For the sake of our nation’s children, let’s not get flat-footed again.”
“Public health is supposed to prevent disasters, not just clean them up after they killed thousands and thousands of people,” Makary said.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Ray Hilbrich
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.offthepress.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
