The Kratom Civil War Has Heat Up, and MAHA Has Chosen Sides

Ten years ago, kratom activists waged a surprisingly successful campaign against a provided Drug Enforcement Administration ban which said the obscure Southeast Asian plant was an “imminent threat to human security.”

They won a bipartisan alliance from Bernie Sanders at Rand Paul, and helped make a billion dollars companies from kratom, which has pain-relieving effects that he said can help combat the the opioid epidemic as a safe, natural alternative to pills.

Now, many of the same pro-kratom advocates want a ban on products that contain one of kratom’s active ingredients: 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, a very powerful compound with opioid-like side effects. And it’s causing huge conflicts between buyers, sellers, and supporters of both.

“This is a prescription opioid that is now on the market,” says Mac Haddow, executive director of the American Kratom Association, an advocacy group for the kratom industry. “They’re like kratom stuff.”

The proliferation of 7-OH in gummies, capsules, and shots with names like Magic 7OH, 7 O’Heaven, and Pure OHMS across thousands of gas stations and corner stores over the past few years has caused confusion. Users of 7-OH have talked about its withdrawal problems, and it has been happening reports The concentration of 7-OH drugs and other substances. Some are now entering rehab to overcome their addiction, while others are self-isolating based on the advice of Redditors.

The kratom community fears that the bad reputation of 7-OH could drag the entire kratom industry into a regulatory quagmire. But the 7-OH industry has argued against the proposed ban, saying that 7-OH is kratom, although it is only found in small amounts inside the leaves of the kratom plant, and that its benefits as a pain reliever outweigh the potential risks.

Anti-7-OH guidelines from the federal government have increased the tension between the two sides.

Last July, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described the 7-OH industry as “sinful” at a press conference where FDA Commissioner Marty Makary called for the DEA to classify the drug as Schedule I—the most restrictive group of prohibited substances. Speaking from the Oval Office on May 11, President Donald Trump public acceptance “Natural 7-OH,” in confusing terms that seem to refer to kratom. On top of all this, it appears that both RFK Jr. and Department of Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin—who is also pushing to ban 7-OH—has strong ties to the kratom lobbyist (and criminal) behind a well-known kratom drink company.

7-OH agents consider the product and the plant from which it is derived as continuously connected. In April 2025 testimony to Colorado lawmakers to argue how to administer kratom with 7-OH, Michele Ross, chief scientific advisor to the 7-OH advocacy group 7-HOPE Alliance, he wrote“To say that 7-OH is not kratom is to say that caffeine is not coffee or THC is not marijuana.

But unlike coffee, cannabis, and kratom—which have been used for hundreds if not thousands of years—7-OH has no long history of human use. It has only been on the market for a few years.

Many of the so-called 7-OH compounds contain mysterious chemicals that have unknown biological effects on animals or humans, says Chris McCurdy, a senior kratom researcher and director of the University of Florida’s translational research development core. “Therefore, these things, even though they are represented as ‘hygienic’ are nothing.”

Currently, a dozen states, from California to Vermont, according to to reports, and have already been moved ahead of government planning and their 7-OH bans. Seven of these states have also banned kratom, including Rhode Island they recently rolled over its prohibition.