OPINION:
As a family advocate, I understand why parents are concerned when they hear about products containing the kratom alkaloid 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH.
We have lived through the devastation of the opioid epidemic and watched addiction tear apart families and communities.
But that’s exactly why policymakers should approach 7-OH with facts and common sense, not fear.
The question is not whether 7-OH should be regulated; it should be. The real question is whether we will regulate these products responsibly or repeat the mistakes of the past by attempting to prohibit them outright.
Across the country, lawmakers are considering bans on 7-OH, portraying these products as a virulent scourge emanating from the unassuming shelves of your local gas station. The reality is more complicated.
First, overdose deaths resulting from 7-OH are exceedingly rare. Since 2023, at least 1 million Americans have consumed billons of 7-OH tablets. This includes parents, workers and veterans.
Yet the Food and Drug Administration’s adverse event database has logged only around 100 reports, many as minor as nausea or dizziness. That’s fewer than the agency receives about ordinary soap.
That does not mean every product on the market is safe. The range of kratom-derived products available today is staggering and lawmakers are right to want oversight.
But prohibition is not the answer.
Even President Trump recently signaled support for a more nuanced approach, saying his administration was “looking very seriously at natural 7-OH” and would take a strong look at approving it.
Meanwhile, the opposition includes former Biden officials who champion the same tired approaches.
As parents, we should be demanding stronger safeguards. Sales should be restricted to adults age 21 and older. Products should be removed from gas stations and stores frequented by children. Manufacturers should be required to use child-resistant packaging, independent laboratory testing, accurate labeling and clear warnings.
Those are the kinds of policies that protect families.
Prohibition, by contrast, creates unintended consequences. When legal, regulated products disappear, demand rarely disappears with them. Instead, consumers are pushed toward illicit markets where there are no age restrictions, no testing requirements and no accountability.
Families deserve policies guided by science rather than panic. We can protect children, hold bad actors accountable and establish meaningful safeguards without criminalizing products that many adults use responsibly.
Responsible regulation is not a compromise between public health and personal freedom. It is how we achieve both.
EMILY STACK
Executive director, Families for America
Arlington, Virginia
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