American Kratom Association Backs DEA Action, Says 7-OH Products "Are Not Kratom"

Why it matters

The kratom industry's largest trade group publicly supporting the DEA scheduling of high-potency 7-OH products is a significant political development — it signals a formal split between traditional kratom advocates and the concentrated-extract market, with implications for how legislatures and courts treat future kratom restrictions.

The big picture

The American Kratom Association has long opposed DEA efforts to schedule mitragynine, the primary kratom alkaloid. This statement marks a deliberate pivot: the AKA drew a hard line between natural kratom leaf and chemically concentrated 7-OH products, arguing that 7-OH products exploited the legal status of kratom to sell what are effectively unregulated opioids. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. echoed the same distinction in the official HHS statement commending the DEA action. The framing has practical stakes for state-level KCPA bills, which are built around regulating — not banning — the botanical product.

Key findings

• The AKA explicitly supported the DEA's Notices of Intent to temporarily schedule concentrated 7-OH and three synthetic derivatives: mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MP), MGM-15, and MGM-16
• AKA called on governors, attorneys general, and state health agencies to immediately remove "chemically manipulated 7-OH opioid products" from the marketplace
• AKA argued that public health agencies misrepresent kratom risk by lumping natural leaf deaths together with concentrated 7-OH overdoses in the same "kratom-related deaths" category
• The association demanded that states adopting kratom bans in response to 7-OH distinguish between the two products, warning that banning natural kratom "rewards the bad actors who created the problem"
• AKA urged states to require serving-size labeling, age restrictions, contaminant testing, and GMP standards for botanical kratom while banning synthetic and concentrated 7-OH formulations

What they say

Mac Haddow, Senior Fellow on Public Policy, AKA: "This DEA action should end the debate. Chemically manipulated 7-OH opioids are not kratom. They are dangerous products that exploited the reputation of natural kratom leaf, misled consumers, and created a public health threat that responsible regulators can no longer ignore."

Bottom line

The kratom industry's own trade group now calls for banning concentrated 7-OH products and draws a firm regulatory line between the natural leaf and the opioid-like extracts sold under the kratom brand.