Former Kratom Users and Families Describe Addiction, Financial Ruin, and Death in Nationwide Reports

Why it matters

First-person accounts of kratom and 7-OH addiction provide clinicians, policymakers, and the public with a ground-level view of the human cost behind rising poison center statistics — and document how many users were initially drawn to kratom as a safe alternative to opioids.

The big picture

A CDC report published in March 2026 found a 1,200% increase in kratom exposure reports to poison control centers from 2015 to 2025. Spectrum News' nationwide investigation — part of a four-part series — collected testimonies from users and family members in North Carolina, Missouri, Georgia, and elsewhere, documenting the shift from natural kratom leaf to more potent synthetic 7-OH products and the consequences that followed.

Key findings

• Multiple former users describe transitioning from kratom to 7-OH after being told by smoke shop owners that 7-OH would help them quit kratom — a pattern experts call alarming
• One former user spent $150 per day on 7-OH within four months, running up $10,000 in credit card debt
• A Missouri family reported their 21-year-old son Jake Hatfield died from a fentanyl and kratom alkaloid overdose while attempting to detox
• A recovering addict who broke her leg and was prescribed opioids said kratom helped her quit opioids but left her addicted — describing 7-OH as pure evil
• Detox centers have turned away kratom-addicted patients whose urine showed no standard drug screen positives, highlighting a gap in treatment access
• Poison control data shows a 1,200% increase in kratom exposure reports from 2015 to 2025, per the CDC

What they say

"We've moved away from these drugs that maybe had the potential to help people in a less harmful way and could be a part of a harm-reduction strategy to something that is so potent and can actually cause fatal respiratory depression," said Dr. Shravani Durbhakula, associate professor of anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "It's basically like another opioid crisis," added Bryan Denham, a Clemson professor who studies kratom.

Bottom line

Real-world accounts of kratom and 7-OH addiction show a clear pattern: users seeking opioid alternatives ended up addicted to products more potent than expected, often undetectable on standard drug screens, with withdrawal symptoms clinicians are unprepared to treat.