The Fight Over 7-OH: Inside Kratom’s Lobbying Civil War

At TestMyKratom, we believe transparency shouldn’t just apply to lab results, it should apply to the industry itself. Currently, a “civil war” is erupting in statehouses and health departments over 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), and lines are being drawn in the sand. The biggest names in the space are spending millions to determine if 7-OH is the future of the plant or the reason it gets banned federally.

The Combatants: “Big Kratom” vs. The New Guard

The industry has split into two fierce factions:

• The Global Kratom Coalition (GKC) & The American Kratom Association (AKA): While the GKC is a relatively new organization backed by Feel Free, the AKA has been around for a while and was largely responsible for kratom not getting fully banned in the 2010’s. Today, they are leading the charge to ban or strictly schedule 7-OH. They’ve branded it “gas station heroin” and argue it is a “manipulated designer opioid” that doesn’t occur naturally in meaningful amounts.

• 7-HOPE Alliance & HART: These groups represent the 7-OH brands. They argue that 7-OH is a natural technological advancement and that “Big Kratom” is simply trying to kill the competition to protect their market share of traditional leaf and extracts.

The 2025-2026 Front Lines

This lobbying pressure has created a chaotic legal patchwork:

• Federal Escalation: In July 2025, the FDA recommended 7-OH be classified as a Schedule I substance, a move immediately “applauded” by the AKA.

• California’s Massive Crackdown: While legislative bans stalled in 2024, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) began seizing millions of dollars in 7-OH products in January 2026, labeling them “adulterated.”

• The Ohio Emergency: In late 2025, Ohio’s Board of Pharmacy issued an emergency rule effectively banning 7-OH extracts. The AKA initially supported this but later took credit for “pausing” the move to ensure natural leaf remained protected.

• State Bans: Florida (August 2025) and Connecticut (February 2026) have already moved to classify isolated 7-OH as Schedule I.

The Credibility Gap

The GKC’s and AKA’s “harm reduction” narrative faced a major blow in 2025 when Botanic Tonics (Feel Free) settled a $8.75 million class-action lawsuit. The suit alleged they failed to disclose kratom content to users—the very lack of transparency they now accuse 7-OH brands of.

Critics point out the hypocrisy: while the AKA and GKC push to ban 7-OH citing “safety,” they continue to protect high-mitragynine shots like MIT45 and OPMS, which have been linked to more adverse event reports than the 7-OH products they are targeting.

The Core Question: Is it still “Kratom”?

As we move toward being a better educational resource, we must ask: Is isolated 7-OH still kratom, or is it a new drug?

The AKA has “closed ranks” to protect traditional kratom brands, but in doing so, they are throwing 7-OH under the bus to satisfy regulators. Is this a legitimate safety strategy, or is it corporate protectionism designed to eliminate a competitive product that their member brands don’t sell?