FDA recommends classifying kratom byproduct as controlled substance

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - It’s been three and a half years since Dana Pope lost her son Ethan, but it still feels fresh.

“Our son Ethan was 23, perfectly healthy, just graduated college, had a great job,” she said.

She said he had some anxiety and turned to kratom, which was readily available at a health food store.

“We definitely think he thought what he was doing was healthy, and he was dead less than a month later,” said Pope.

“When the coroner said ‘kratom,’ we were like, ‘Wait, what?’ I was like, ‘Spell it. I don’t even know what you’re talking about,’” she said.

Pope was pleased to hear that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended a scheduling action for the active ingredient in the plant, called 7- hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, which means it would become a controlled substance.

“To hear that the FDA might step up and schedule the 7-hydroxy is huge,” said Pope.

Other names for kratom are “legal morphine” and “gas station heroin.”

“You can’t go to the local convenience store and buy morphine,” said Pope.

“Kratom is a plant that is indigenous to southeast Asia,” said Jeff Baucom, CEO at Inner Voyage Recovery Center.

Baucom sees people seeking recovery from the byproduct of kratom all the time.

“It affects your opiate receptors similarly to the way an opioid would affect it, but not to the same level of intensity, but it is still highly addictive,” he said.

Baucom was also glad to hear the FDA consider this scheduling action.

“You can buy it in gas stations, you can buy it in the head shops, and it’s just so readily available, and it’s not properly labeled and marketed,” said Baucom.

Pope said had this happened years ago, her son might be alive today.

“It’s just shocking that you can go and it’s next to the candy,” she said.

The American Kratom Association praised the decision to classify 7-OH as a schedule I substance.

“This bold step is a critical milestone in protecting public health and consumer safety from dangerous synthetic products that masquerade as natural kratom,” the association said in a statement.