Kratom leaf and 7-OH, explained for officials.
Short videos for officials weighing an outright ban on kratom. Each part takes one question that comes up at hearings and walks through the sources behind the answer. The sources are on screen in every video and listed under each part here, with the full transcript.
2 parts so far. Facts checked September 27, 2026.
Where the line is drawn.
The difference between kratom leaf and the concentrated and synthetic 7-OH products behind the headlines: how little 7-OH the leaf holds, how the concentrates are made, and how threshold laws draw the line at concentration instead of at the plant.
Transcript
This is Part 1 of a short series on kratom, from Hudson Valley Botanicals, a kratom business that sells leaf products only and has a financial interest in how kratom is regulated. This part covers one distinction: the leaf, versus the concentrated and synthetic products behind the headlines.
Kratom is a tree native to Southeast Asia. Its leaf contains more than fifty alkaloids, and the main one is mitragynine. Another, 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, is a minor part. The FDA puts it under two percent of the leaf’s alkaloids, typically a few hundredths of one percent of the dried leaf’s weight.
The products in the headlines are different: tablets, shots and gummies built around 7-OH itself. The leaf holds too little 7-OH to extract economically, so the FDA says this 7-OH is likely made by chemically converting mitragynine. In testing the FDA cited, one pill held 15 milligrams, about what 40 to 150 grams of dried leaf contain.
The body does convert some of the leaf’s mitragynine into 7-OH, gradually. Concentrates skip that step. And when you hear that 7-OH is many times stronger than morphine, that figure comes from lab studies of the isolated compound, not the leaf.
Then there are lab-made relatives of 7-OH, like MGM-15 and MGM-16. On August 26, the DEA placed three of them in temporary Schedule I at any amount, and a local law can name them too, along with similar compounds developed later.
So the line is being drawn at concentration, not at the plant. In July, the DEA proposed 0.05 percent for plant material, and 0.05 percent or one milligram for processed products. Some governments have chosen this line over a ban. Rhode Island replaced its statewide ban with a regulated market that caps 7-OH at one percent of total alkaloids and one milligram per serving. And the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, a model law many states have adopted in some form, caps 7-OH at two percent of total alkaloids. That’s two percent of the alkaloids, not two percent of the plant.
Enforcement doesn’t need a chemistry lab at every counter. An independent lab certificate shows each lot’s 7-OH content, and inspectors check the paperwork. Leaf isn’t risk-free, which is why a threshold law can also set a minimum age of 21 and require warning labels.
If you’re weighing an outright ban, there’s a narrower option: a threshold law that takes concentrated and synthetic 7-OH products off the shelves, while plain leaf stays legal under age limits, labeling and testing. Thank you for watching. Part 2 is coming soon.
Sources
- FDA, "7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH): An Assessment of the Scientific Data and Toxicological Concerns Around an Emerging Opioid Threat" (July 2025), including the product testing it cites
- FDA, "FDA and Kratom"
- DEA, temporary scheduling order for MGM-15, MGM-16 and MP (Federal Register, August 2026)
- DEA, notice of intent on 7-OH thresholds (Federal Register, July 2026). A proposal, not yet final when checked on September 27, 2026.
- Congressional Research Service, "Temporary Control of 7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and Related Substances Under the Controlled Substances Act" (Legal Sidebar LSB11457)
- Rhode Island Kratom Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 21-28.12-3
- Kratom Consumer Protection Act, model text
- Dutchess County, New York, Resolution 2026136 (August 10, 2026)
What the numbers measure.
The number officials hear most often at kratom hearings is the CDC's 1,200% increase in kratom reports to poison centers. This part shows what that number counts, what it does not, and what the report's authors say the data cannot show.
Transcript
This is Part 2 of a short series on kratom, from Hudson Valley Botanicals, a kratom business that sells leaf products only and has a financial interest in how kratom is regulated. This part looks at the number you’ll hear most often at kratom hearings.
That number is a 1,200% increase. It comes from a CDC report on calls to poison centers: 258 kratom reports in 2015, and 3,434 in 2025.
A report is a call to a poison center about actual or suspected contact with a substance, whether or not anyone had symptoms. So the 1,200% is a count of calls, not a count of injuries or deaths.
Over the same 11 years, the report counted 233 deaths. 79% involved other substances as well, most often opioids.
Reports involving kratom alone make up most of the total. They had leveled off from 2020 through 2024. Then, in 2025, they rose sharply. Those reports deserve to be taken seriously.
What the data can’t show is which products people used. The authors note that it doesn’t record whether a report involved traditional leaf or concentrated 7-OH, and that the 2025 surge coincides with the arrival of those concentrates. They recommend that surveillance tell product types apart.
So the numbers show a real rise, but not which products drove it. Separating leaf from concentrates, in the data and in the law, is how to target the harm. Thank you for watching. Part 3 is coming soon.
Send it to the people who vote.
Link to this page, or to a single part: each has its own link. Every video can also be downloaded to show at a meeting, and the transcripts carry every word for anyone who would rather read.
Questions, or a correction to something we got wrong? Send us a message through our contact page. We read every message.
Hudson Valley Botanicals sells kratom and is affected by these laws, so watch with that interest in mind. The videos are public commentary, not legal advice, and nothing in them or on this page describes what any product does. Laws and proposals change; each part lists its sources so they can be checked.
