Los Angeles county officials are set to pull kratom and its synthetic extract, sometimes called 7-OH, from shelves immediately.
Inspectors will be sent to retailers next week to begin red-tagging illegal products containing the compounds, the L.A. County Department of Public Health said in a release Friday morning. Shops that don’t comply could be hit with fines or other penalties.
Kratom is an herbal extract from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa, a tree native to Southeast Asia. It is sold in shops and online in a variety of forms, including powders, pills and liquid extracts. Brands selling kratom often make claims that it can address pain, anxiety and mood disorders.
Matthew Lowe, executive director of the Global Kratom Coalition, said natural kratom has been used in the U.S. for over 50 years to alleviate anxiety and treat chronic pain.
In the last few years, a more potent, synthetic version of kratom refined into its psychoactive compound 7-Hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, hit shelves across the U.S.
7-OH products are often marketed as “plant alkaloids,” drawing criticism from some, including Lowe, who argue the labeling is misleading, confusing consumers into thinking it’s the same as natural kratom.
When mixed with alcohol, medications or illicit drugs, the county health department warns, 7-OH products can “cause severe respiratory depression and death. Importantly, these products are unregulated and may contain unknown concentrations of 7-OH, increasing the risk of unintentional overdose.”
There have been six reported kratom-related deaths in Los Angeles County in just the past few months.
“Given that this is new and emerging substance, this is also since the medical examiner started tracking 7-OH data,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health told The Times via email. Since the county only just began tracking 7-OH in deaths in April of this year, it is unclear how many other overdoses could have occurred previously.
Alcohol was also…