HHS endorses DEA move to schedule synthetic kratom extracts

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Friday added its recommendations to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) move to schedule synthetic kratom extracts, putting its support behind the push to regulate the substances colloquially called “gas station opioid.”

In July, the DEA announced plans to temporarily schedule a psychoactive compound derived from kratom called 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and other related compounds as Schedule I, placing it in a category indicating no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brian Christine recommended the DEA use concentration- or ratio-based thresholds for determining how to schedule synthetically concentrated kratom extracts.

While 7-OH is naturally present in trace amounts in herbal kratom, a plant originating from Southeast Asia, products synthetically concentrating the compound in high amounts have proliferated, becoming readily available in gas stations or tobacco shops.

The department recommended that 7-OH and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI), a related compound, be classified as Schedule I if either compound or a combination of both exceeds “1 milligram per gram in solid powders, encapsulated material, or other solid forms, or exceeds 1 milligram per milliliter in liquid preparations.”

The HHS also recommended this classification if the amount of 7-OH, MGPI or a combination of both in a product makes up more than 1 percent of mitragynine, the primary psychoactive alkaloid in kratom that is much milder than the compounds the DEA and HHS are concerned about.

“Dangerous and addictive opioids do not belong behind convenience store counters,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Our nation’s children and communities deserve protection from harmful substances like 7-OH and other powerful synthetic drugs. The actions taken by the Department of Justice today reflect our commitment to keeping Americans safe and holding drug traffickers accountable.”

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said: “We listened to the public, followed the science, and developed a clear recommended threshold for temporary scheduling that targets concentrated 7-OH and MGPI without sweeping natural botanical kratom into Schedule I. The Trump Administration will continue taking decisive action against dangerous products that fuel addiction while making sure our policies are grounded in rigorous science.”