For two years, anyone has been able to walk into a vape shop or convenience store in Michigan and other states, hand over cash or a credit card, and walk out with as much of a substance called 7-OH as they can afford. Or they can click online and get it shipped to them.
They may have turned to 7-OH at first to get relief from pain, anxiety or stress, or as an alternative to illegal drugs.
After all, 7-OH products have been touted as “natural” relatives of plant-derived kratom products that have been around for years.
But for many, including those who “graduated” from kratom to the more potent 7-OH products, their initial relief turned into an addiction they now can’t kick.
That’s because both kratom and 7-OH act on the brain’s opioid receptors. And for some people, that triggers a need to buy ever-higher doses to get the same effect, and a pattern of craving another dose sooner than before.
Now, 7-OH users may suddenly find themselves unable to buy those products in Michigan and other states that have not yet banned them.
It could happen as soon as early August.
That’s because the United States Drug Enforcement Agency has proposed to temporarily change how 7-OH and three related chemicals are regulated, or scheduled, at the national level.
The DEA proposed this action because of the sharp rise in poisonings, cases of addiction and overdose deaths seen since 7-OH products came on the market in the U.S. in late 2024.
If the DEA goes through with the rescheduling, 7-OH and related products could not be sold or prescribed in any way, in any state.
It would place them temporarily in the same class as heroin and LSD. The temporary rescheduling would last two years and could be extended another year.
A public comment period on the proposed rules ended July 31 and brought in tens of thousands of comments.
The DEA could act after the comments are considered.
The temporary rescheduling would only affect products that contain more than 1 milligram of 7-hydroxymitragynine (known as 7-OH for short), or 0.05% by weight or volume, and products that contain any amount of mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, or MGM-16.
While 7-hydroxymitragynine is produced naturally by the kratom plant that grows in South Asia and is present in small amounts in products made from natural kratom leaf, the other three substances are entirely lab-made.
The 7-OH in the products sold as anything other than natural kratom leaf is also lab-made, or synthetic, and is present in far higher concentrations than in kratom leaves.
In states like Michigan that have not banned natural leaf kratom products, those would still be available under the temporary DEA rescheduling if they have less than the threshold amount of 7-OH.
A bill to ban all 7-OH and kratom products passed the Michigan House this past March, but has not yet been taken up by the Michigan Senate.
A recovery clinic in Tennessee and Georgia offers a map tracking other states’ laws.