HAVENAccess

. @SecKennedy @KathrynBurgum @HHSGov Kratom has already helped millions avoid alcohol, opioids, and dangerous street drugs. One of its natural alkaloids, 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), is now helping people move away from far more dangerous substances, with zero verified deaths from 7-OH alone despite widespread use. Reasonable limits and common-sense standards are appropriate. That is what regulation is for. What is happening now is not regulation. It is prohibition and scheduling being justified by false FDA narratives, not evidence. Labeling 7-OH a “new synthetic opioid” and calling it a new wave of the opioid crisis, as @DrMakaryFDA has done, is factually wrong. These are fear-based, theoretical claims being repeated without evidence, ignoring decades of science and the absence of any real-world evidence of danger or crisis. They are now being used to justify bans rather than evidence-based policy. This approach will push people away from safer harm-reduction options and back toward far more dangerous drugs. If public health and recovery are truly the goal, this misinformation must be corrected and policy must be grounded in real-world data, not fear.

WATCH IN FULL: @SecKennedy and @KathrynBurgum appear on @foxandfriends to share their personal journeys to recovery and their role as co-chairs of @POTUS’s Great American Recovery Initiative.

That argument doesn’t hold up. Kratom extracts are made in labs using processing, solvents, concentration, and isolation, including the kratom and kava extract products you sell. None of that has ever made mitragynine, kratom, or kava “synthetic.” 7-hydroxymitragynine is a naturally occurring kratom alkaloid and a known metabolite of mitragynine in the human body. Processing or isolating a naturally occurring compound does not make it synthetic. If “made in a lab” were the standard for scheduling, then kratom extracts, caffeine, CBD, and countless supplements would all qualify. That is not how chemistry or drug law works.

@HAVENAccess @HHSResponse @SecKennedy @DrMakaryFDA The product on the market is made in a lab! It’s simi-synthetic. Not natural and needs to be scheduled

.@SecKennedy: “Nearly 50 million Americans suffer from substance use disorder. Many never receive treatment…We will focus on prevention before addiction takes hold, we will intervene early, we will expand access to treatment that leads to real, long-term recovery, and we will support reentry.”

.@SecKennedy During the Oval Office remarks, 7-hydroxymitragynine was labeled a “new synthetic opioid” by @drmakaryFDA and tied to a “4th wave of the opioid crisis.” Both claims are factually wrong and unsupported by evidence. 7-OH is not new, not synthetic, and not an opioid. It is a naturally occurring kratom alkaloid and a known mitragynine metabolite documented for decades. Despite widespread consumer use since 2023, there is not a single verified death attributed to 7-OH alone. If this were a real public-health crisis, it would have produced clear toxicology signals, overdose trends, or epidemiological evidence by now. It has not. There are zero verified deaths from 7-OH alone, no overdose trend, and no public-health signal supporting this framing. Calling it a “new synthetic opioid” is fear-based misinformation, not science. Policy built on these claims will push people away from safer harm-reduction options and back toward far more dangerous substances. If public health is the goal, this needs to be corrected and grounded in real-world data, not rhetoric.

.@SecKennedy: “With the Great American Recovery Initiative, we finally bring the full strength of the federal government together…to save lives, restore families, and rebuild communities that addiction has hollowed out.”

7-hydroxymitragynine is not new, not synthetic, and not an opioid. It is a naturally occurring kratom alkaloid and a known mitragynine metabolite documented for decades. There are zero verified deaths from 7-OH alone. Reframing it as a “new synthetic opioid” is not a minor error, it is dangerous misinformation. Policy built on this framing will push people away from safer harm-reduction tools and back toward far more dangerous substances. That outcome will cause real harm. If public health is the goal, this needs to be corrected and grounded in evidence, not fear.

We're going on offense against addiction.

@HAVENAccess @HHSgov @US_FDA @DEAHQ Please look into the science & how people have been helped to harm reduction & pain patients. People are loosing their lives. ODs from other drugs and pain patients who are being stripped of their quality of life are calling it quits. They matter.

@ShermSticky_CS @US_FDA @ReasonFdn Thank you for sharing your experience. Personal outcomes like this are an important part of the broader conversation around evidence, access, and public-health impact.

@HAVENAccess @US_FDA @ReasonFdn Excellent article. Kratom and specifically 7oh have saved many life’s including myself and loved ones. I fear what will happen if the FDA fueled/backed by Big Pharma money schedules this incredible natural substance; a revert back to the opioid epidemic from decade or two ago.

The @US_FDA’s seizure of 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) raises serious questions about evidence, process, and justification. This explainer from @ReasonFdn outlines what 7-OH is, how it relates to kratom, and what the FDA is claiming compared to the available evidence. It also discusses the potential public-health implications of restricting a lower-risk alternative amid an ongoing opioid crisis. 🔗 reason.org/commentary/wha… @HHSgov #Kratom #7OH #HarmReduction #EvidenceBasedPolicy #DueProcess

Public health policy needs consistency and transparency. Ohio BOP’s emergency action on 7-OH moved forward without publicly presented evidence of an urgent harm surge. Since that decision, we’ve heard from multiple Ohio residents who say the sudden ban and overnight criminalization created fear and instability for people relying on harm-reduction options during the opioid crisis. That impact deserves serious consideration before any effort to make the ban permanent or expand restrictions on natural harm-reduction alternatives.

Thank you, @SecKennedy, @DrOzCMS , @SenJonHusted, and @berniemoreno for your support of Ohio's Rural Health Transformation proposal. Ohio will soon receive more than $200 million to strengthen health care across Ohio's rural communities and bring high-quality, dependable health care closer to home. bit.ly/4quoKQw

Emergency scheduling and rushed rulemaking around 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) are moving forward without publicly documented evidence of an actual surge in harm. Transparency and evidence are supposed to come first in public health decisions. If the data exists, it should be public. If it does not, that raises legitimate concerns about trust in federal health decision-making. Restrictive policies that remove lower-risk alternatives can unintentionally push people toward dangerous street opioids. That harm-reduction context should not be ignored while the opioid epidemic continues. Months after federal agencies raised concerns about 7-OH, and years after its entry into the market, there has still been no publicly released data demonstrating an emergent 7-OH driven overdose or mortality crisis. That gap between rhetoric and evidence deserves serious scrutiny. @HHSgov @US_FDA @DEAHQ

@AGJamesUthmeier When you reference “court victories,” does that include the dismissal of the lawsuit challenging the emergency scheduling of 7-hydroxymitragynine after the emergency rule was reissued months later with no substantive change and no new evidence? I raised detailed concerns in a reply under your earlier post thanking your Solicitor General’s team and referencing them “keeping me out of judicial contempt (kind of).”

Thanks to all of our attorneys and staff in the Attorney General’s office. Have a Merry Christmas, you deserve it. Our team recovered over half a billion dollars this year for Florida’s taxpayers through court victories and settlements making us the state’s highest ROI agency.

@AGJamesUthmeier In this post, you reference your team “keeping me out of judicial contempt (kind of).” When the emergency authority used to schedule 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) was re-invoked, an active lawsuit challenging that emergency action was dismissed without any substantive change or new evidence, and judicial review of whether an emergency actually existed never occurred. That raises a serious question: is that being treated as a success? Or as a warning sign that the emergency rule process is being used to avoid scrutiny rather than allow courts to evaluate whether the emergency standard was ever met? Nothing about the emergency scheduling of 7-hydroxymitragynine materially changed between 2ER25-2 and 2ER25-3. The ban is identical. The asserted justification is identical. There was no evidence cited then, and there is still no evidence cited now—no data, no overdoses, no evidence of youth use, no increase in harm, no new emergency. The only thing that changed was issuing a new emergency rule months later while litigation was actively challenging the legitimacy of using emergency powers to criminalize previously law-abiding Floridians. Emergency powers require evidence of an actual emergency. Recycling the same rule with the same justification and no evidence does not meet that standard. Transparency and accountability matter on this issue.

Thanks to our Solicitor General’s team for this year’s superb advocacy! From defending FL’s farmlands from Chinese invasion to protecting kids from harmful drag shows to beating Big Tech and keeping me out of judicial contempt (kind of), you’ve had many wins! Merry Christmas!

NEW: Ohio has chosen to unilaterally ban 7-OH Not based on science and evidence, but selective outrage and misinfo Rather than bans, smart regulatory policy on kratom alkaloids would help prevent overdoses, preserve legitimate access, and protect youth consumerchoicecenter.org/ohio-gov-dewin…

Emergency scheduling requires evidence of an imminent public health threat. Ohio has not presented public, Ohio-specific evidence demonstrating an imminent hazard from 7-hydroxymitragynine alone. If such evidence exists, it should be disclosed and evaluated transparently. Repeatedly labeling 7-OH as “synthetic” is scientifically inaccurate. 7-hydroxymitragynine is a naturally occurring kratom alkaloid and a known metabolite of mitragynine. Manufacturing, isolating, or concentrating a molecule that already exists in nature does not change its chemical identity.

After taking time to review potential federal action, I am reengaging the Ohio Board of Pharmacy on kratom. Today I called on @OhioRXBoard to immediately designate all synthetic kratom compounds and other dangerous compounds derived from the active ingredient in Kratom as illegal drugs through emergency rule. I have also asked them to pursue rules through the regular rulemaking process for scheduling mitragynine (natural kratom). Details: bit.ly/4964EGr

7-OH is not a synthetic kratom compound, nor is their science or public health data to warrant imminent hazard for a Schedule 1 ban in Ohio. 76% of people use 7-OH for chronic pain, and 22% used it for opioid abuse recovery. By taking 7-OH away, you will lead people to street drugs, suicide, or suffering. It's not a recreational drug nor does it kill people.

“Will One Issue Voters Deny GOP Key Seats and Control? Debate over a harm reduction product used by millions of Americans as an alternative to illicit drugs is dredging up bad memories of GOP electoral lowlights...” newsmax.com/juliorivera/kr…

The war on pain needs to end, not because substances are risk-free, but because adults deserve compassion, honesty, and the right to make informed decisions about their own health. orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/29/com…

A new lawsuit has been filed to challenge Florida’s emergency 7OH ban. Read more: orlandoweekly.com/news/ban-on-kr… HAVEN Access supports this action and stands with advocates fighting for truth, science, and safe access. @AGJamesUthmeier #Florida #7OH #Kratom #HarmReduction #ScienceNotStigma

📣 FLORIDA: STAND FOR 7-OH ACCESS We’re gathering in Orlando to protest @AGJamesUthmeier’s 7-OH ban and stand for truth, safety, and science-based policy, not rushed fear-based bans. 🗓️ Nov 18 – 12 PM 📍 Orlando City Hall (Front Plaza) #Florida #7OH #Kratom #HarmReduction #ScienceNotStigma

Florida's emergency rule banning 7-OH will drive people back to dangerous street drugs. #chronicpain #VeteransLivesMatter sportsbookwire.usatoday.com/story/opinion/…