The New 7-OH Crackdown Isn't About Public Health

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 09:02:00 -0400

Here is how Washington influence can work: The founder of a kratom company and entities associated with his business make major political contributions, secure access to senior officials, and lobby the government to prohibit a competing class of products. Months later, the DEA begins doing precisely that.

That’s the fight underway between the kratom leaf industry and the kratom alkaloid known as 7-OH.

As revealed in the New York Times, Jerry Ross, founder of Botanic Tonics, the maker of a widely sold kratom extract known as Feel Free, has mounted a successful influence campaign in Washington to amplify the dangers of 7-OH products while exempting other kratom products. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who oversees the DEA, even owns shares in the company.

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The New 7-OH Crackdown Isn't About Public Health