Peter Schorsch
A new nonprofit, the Global Kratom Coalition (GKC), has launched a highly funded campaign to restrict Floridians’ access to 7-Hydroxymitragynine, also known as 7-OH.
This echoes efforts by GKC to ban the product in Texas, Arizona and Tennessee, and an unsuccessful legislative attempt (AB 2365) in California.
Consumers familiar with 7-OH might find this bizarre: Research into 7-OH has shown this alkaloid from the kratom plant to have a strong safety profile and effective pain relief potential to make it a promising alternative to traditional opioids.
Initial research indicates no abuse potential, which was a key factor in the decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to reject efforts to ban Kratom and 7-OH, stating that, by contrast, “there is significant risk of immediate adverse public health consequences for potentially millions of users if kratom and its components” were controlled as Schedule 1 drugs.
Certainly, 7-OH is an adult product that needs proper government oversight. That’s why the two leading organizations in the space, the American Kratom Association and the Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust, have signed a joint agreement to work with lawmakers and regulators to ensure that 7-OH products are properly regulated by states and kept out of the hands of minors.
So why on earth does GKC want to deny access to 7-OH products? It’s a classic bait-and-switch: raising illegitimate concerns about a competitor to hide legitimate concerns about their own product.
And meet J.W. Ross, the huckster and convicted embezzler behind this effort.
Ross, the founder of the Global Kratom Coalition, is best known as the founder of Botanic Tonics, manufacturer of the massively successful kava shot Feel Free. Tragically, not long after unwitting consumers exposed to his marketing bonanza began using Feel Free, they discovered the product was highly addictive, leading them on a downward spiral of increasing usage, illness and even death.
According to the L.A. Times, after Californian Romulo Torres was lured into using the product by targeted social media ads, he experienced psychosis, delirium, vomiting and loss of consciousness. Seeking to join together with other victims of Feel Free, he filed a class action lawsuit against J.W. Ross and Botanic Tonics. The class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Northern District of California contains disturbing claims about the manufacturing of Feel Free.
New York Times bestselling author Scott Carney investigated the controversy in a comprehensive YouTube video, and was contacted by Ross himself. Ross informed Carney that he had been sentenced to nine years in jail for embezzling millions of dollars.
Policymakers are just starting to grapple with the problem. Recently, the Utah Department of Agriculture delisted Feel Free and other products containing kava and kratom from their Registered Products list.
With regulators and policymakers on their backs, GKC is mounting a furious effort to scapegoat 7-OH as a means to distract attention from their problematic product.
Ross certainly has put his money where his mouth is. GKC led the effort to pass AB 2365 (a 7-OH ban) in California, and even contributed $11,000 to state Rep. Matt Haney’s re-election campaign shortly after Haney introduced AB 2365.
Worse yet, the GKC also pledged $250,000 to the University of Florida (UF) Foundation ostensibly to establish a new fund dedicated to research on kratom. Just after receiving this promise of funding, at the behest of the GKC, four UF Ph.D.s drafted a confidential statement, devoid of any data or references to any existing research, attacking 7-OH products and manufacturers.
Why would UF officials be so vocal against 7-OH, despite having performed no human studies on the compound? As Upton Sinclair famously said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
3 comments
Soren Shade
February 14, 2025 at 4:28 pm
Hi Peter,
I’ve noticed several factual inaccuracies in your article and wanted to ask whether you’re open to discussing and correcting them.
First, you state that the GKC has attempted to ban 7OH products in Arizona, Texas, and Tennessee. However, a review of the state codes in question shows that these products are already illegal under existing laws—specifically, clauses referring to synthetic kratom alkaloids and restrictions limiting 7OH to less than 2% of total alkaloid content.
Second, your article repeatedly conflates 7OH with kratom as a whole. While 7OH is a naturally occurring, trace constituent in kratom, treating it as synonymous with the plant is misleading. It’s akin to equating cocaine with coca leaves, caffeine with coffee, morphine with poppies, or THC with cannabis. None of these isolated compounds are inherently “bad,” but they are distinctly different from the whole plant and should be discussed as such. In fact, it’s reasonable to suggest that isolated constituents like 7OH may require different regulatory considerations due to their unique pharmacological and risk profiles. That doesn’t mean 7OH should be prohibited, but it absolutely warrants a separate discussion rather than being grouped under the broad label of “kratom.” To present it otherwise is either a serious oversight or a misrepresentation of the facts.
As someone who supports both the AKA and the GKC, I appreciate your acknowledgment of the GKC’s lobbying efforts. That’s neoliberal politics, baby. And it sucks that our government is for sale. But let’s not pretend that the AKA or HART is above this. A quick look at publicly available lobbying records (e.g., on opensecrets.org) will show that both organizations have invested significant funds in lobbying efforts.
Lastly, your broad-stroke criticism of the University of Florida for accepting research contributions, without addressing the actual criteria for those funds or the rationale behind their concerns about 7OH, is misguided. If you’re going to engage in discourse about drug policy and legislation, it’s essential to be well-informed on the subject rather than fueling unnecessary hysteria.
I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.
Best,
Soren Shade
Venus Usher
February 15, 2025 at 10:04 am
Eight years ago, I discovered kratom tea after suffering in pain for over a decade, 17 years, dismissed as “all in my head.” Kratom gave me my life back. It allowed me to undergo surgery that revealed severe adhesions, and I recovered faster than anyone expected—thanks to my tea.
Today, it’s the only thing that manages my interstitial cystitis, fibromyalgia, and recurring adhesion pain. My health is thriving, and I’m living proof that plain, tested kratom is safe and effective.
Please don’t take this natural option away. It gave me back my life, and it can do the same for so many others.
Plain, unadulterated, crushed leaf is what kratom is. 70H is not kratom. Kratom doesn’t cause respiratory depression.
Susan Eppard
February 20, 2025 at 12:17 pm
My 22 year old son Matthew Eller died from Kratom powder (the least potent form of kratom available in the United States). Kratom caused him to have a seizure, go into cardiac arrest and die. His toxicology showed he died from the “TOXIC effects of Mitragynine” an alkaloid found only in kratom. He had no prescription drugs, no street drugs nor alcohol in his system when he died, and his autopsy showed he had no underlying health conditions, and was a healthy 22 year old young man.
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