Aug. 27, 2025 8 AM PT
To the editor: The Meals and Drug Administration’s name to categorise 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) as a Schedule I drug is unwarranted (“What to know about synthetic kratom, the supplement being banned in SoCal and across the U.S.,” Aug. 20). 7-OH is a pure extract from the kratom plant and the overwhelming majority of deaths linked to make use of concerned different medication or contaminants. Regulators haven’t offered adequate proof of hurt, but they suggest a ban that will deprive sufferers of aid.
After spinal surgical procedure left me in fixed ache, medical doctors prescribed opioids, however I feared they might worsen my anxiousness and create dependence. I wanted another that would relieve ache with out leaving me impaired. 7-OH offers that. It reduces my ache and calms my anxiousness sufficient for me to work and reside, and it has not led to dependence.
Regulation ought to guarantee these merchandise aren’t marketed or bought to younger folks. However banning 7-OH would take away the one possibility many sufferers have discovered to handle ache with out opioids. That will punish sufferers whereas doing nothing to guard the general public.
Philip Ray, Huntington Seashore
