Rolling Stone Investigation: Trump Cabinet Ties and Industry Money Behind DEA's Kratom Derivative Ban

Why it matters

A Rolling Stone investigation connects the DEA's July 2026 move to schedule 7-hydroxymitragynine to political and financial relationships between natural kratom industry donors and Trump administration officials, raising conflict-of-interest questions while the public comment period remains open through July 31.

The big picture

The DEA's July 1, 2026 notices targeting 7-OH and three synthetic compounds follow years of lobbying by natural kratom manufacturers who argued that concentrated 7-OH products were unsafe and gave botanical kratom a bad name. A New York Times investigation found that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin held an undisclosed investment of up to $1 million in Oklahoma kratom company Botanic Tonics while publicly pushing for 7-OH restrictions. Botanic Tonics' founder donated nearly $162,000 to RFK Jr.'s presidential campaign and $1 million to Kennedy's MAHA PAC.

Key findings

• DEA's July 1 Notices of Intent would place 7-OH and three synthetic compounds in Schedule I, the same category as heroin and LSD
• Natural leaf kratom is not affected by the proposed scheduling
• Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin did not disclose his investment in Botanic Tonics until becoming cabinet secretary in March 2026
• Botanic Tonics founder Jerry W. Ross donated $1 million to RFK Jr.'s MAHA PAC and secured a private audience with Vice President JD Vance
• Laboratory-concentrated 7-OH can be up to 13 times more potent than morphine
• CDC data shows kratom-related hospitalizations and poisonings rose nearly 1,300 percent from 2015 to 2025

What they say

"You'll sometimes hear the kratom industry refer to [7-OH] as synthetic, that it's completely made out of chemicals the way fentanyl is. That's not true," — Dr. Andrew Kolodny, medical director for the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University

Bottom line

The DEA's 7-OH scheduling action carries real public health justification, but investigative reporting reveals that financial relationships between natural kratom industry donors and Trump administration officials complicate the picture.