Start with the right spelling
The concentrated product people often call “7-OH” is 7-hydroxymitragynine. It may also appear as 7-OHMG, 7-HMG, or 7-hydroxy. It is not “70H.”
What is kratom?
Kratom is Mitragyna speciosa, a tree native to Southeast Asia. Traditional use centers on the leaves, which have been chewed or prepared as tea in different contexts.
The leaves contain mitragynine and many other alkaloids. Some interact with opioid receptors, which helps explain both reported effects and the possibility of tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal.
Why “kratom” no longer describes one consistent product
The U.S. market includes loose leaf, powder, capsules, tea, liquid extracts, shots, gummies, tablets, and products with enhanced or added alkaloids. Their concentration, purity, labeling, and contamination risk can differ sharply.
Someone saying “I used kratom” may be describing a brewed leaf tea or a high-potency product. Those are not equivalent exposures.
Traditional leaf tea is not concentrated 7-OH
7-OH occurs naturally in kratom at low levels. The current public-health concern focuses especially on products with added, enhanced, converted, or concentrated 7-OH.
The FDA describes these as novel potent opioid products and recommends that consumers avoid them. Product forms include tablets, gummies, shots, drink mixes, and products marketed as “enhanced” kratom.
This distinction is essential, but it should not be twisted into “all natural leaf is safe.” Kratom leaf can still lead to dependence, withdrawal, adverse effects, contamination, or interactions.
Why 7-OH deserves its own warning
FDA reports associated harms including:
- Addiction
- Withdrawal symptoms
- Anxiety or depression
- Gastrointestinal distress
- Insomnia
- Seizures
The agency has not approved a 7-OH product for any medical use.
Kava Kats will not provide instructions for using, concentrating, converting, or dosing 7-OH.
Can kratom be addictive?
Yes. Some regular users develop tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal. Risk is not identical for every user or product, but “it is a plant” is not a meaningful guarantee.
Possible warning signs include escalating amount or frequency, withdrawal when stopping, unsuccessful attempts to cut back, hiding use, using despite harm, and needing the product to feel normal.
What are kratom’s possible side effects?
Reported effects include nausea, constipation, dizziness, and drowsiness. Less common serious reports include seizures, high blood pressure, and liver problems. Long-term effects and many drug interactions remain incompletely understood.
Multi-substance use is an important risk signal. A 2026 CDC analysis found that poison-center reports involving kratom plus other substances were associated with more severe outcomes and accounted for most reported deaths. Poison-center data do not measure the risk for every user, but they show why combinations deserve special caution.
Do red, green, and white labels reliably predict effects?
Not reliably.
People and vendors often describe white products as stimulating, green as balanced, and red as relaxing. Research on commercial products has found that these labels may not consistently track alkaloid content. Processing conditions can change powder color, and season, geography, genetics, product handling, and marketing all complicate the picture.
Treat the color name as a product label—not a clinical promise.
Does kratom show up on a drug test?
Kratom is not named on the standard federal workplace testing panel, but specialized tests can detect mitragynine and related compounds. Courts, treatment programs, employers, clinicians, or other organizations may order different panels.
Do not assume that a “standard test” answer applies to a particular situation.
Is kratom legal?
The answer depends on the date, jurisdiction, product, concentration, and regulatory category. Federal and state treatment of botanical kratom and concentrated 7-OH is evolving rapidly.
On July 1, 2026, DEA announced the start of a temporary scheduling process aimed at 7-OH above specified thresholds and several related synthetic substances, while describing naturally occurring trace levels in botanical kratom as outside the intended target. North Carolina proposals have also been changing.
This page must be rechecked against current federal and North Carolina law before it is published. It is not legal advice.
If you are worried about your use
Do not wait for the situation to meet someone else’s definition of “bad enough.” A clinician, pharmacist, addiction professional, or trusted peer can help you assess use and plan a safer next step.
- SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
- Treatment locator: findtreatment.gov
- Poison Help: 1-800-222-1222
- Emergency: 911
Next: what is actually in that bottle, or how kava and kratom differ. Short answers are on the questions page.