Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has announced new restrictions on 7-OH, a concentrated extract of the kratom plant, at a news conference held at Tampa General Hospital. Standing alongside state officials and medical experts, Uthmeier framed the move as part of a continued effort to keep dangerous substances away from children and out of everyday retail stores across the state.
According to the attorney general, 7-OH is produced by removing and highly concentrating a compound from the kratom plant. He said state chemists analyzed the product and found it can be as potent as 13 times or more than morphine. Uthmeier referred to it as gas station morphine, noting it had been sold on shelves in convenience stores and retail outlets, in some cases placed next to candy bars and snacks within reach of children.
The latest measures build on action Florida took roughly a year ago, when the state issued an emergency rule rescheduling 7-OH and making it unlawful to sell. Officials described that earlier order as having had a positive impact in pulling some of these products off store shelves, but said further steps were needed to address the substance and related concentrates.
Under the new rule, officials said no product may contain more than one milligram of these dangerous chemicals per gram, a limit aimed specifically at 7-OH and related concentrates. The rule also sets additional requirements for any product that contains 7-OH or a related compound, tightening the conditions under which such items may be sold.
Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Wilton Simpson also spoke at the event, pointing to past efforts against hemp-laden products marketed in ways that reached children, which were banned by the Florida legislature a few years ago. Simpson said that since that ban, his department had removed more than 1.7 million products and had won lawsuits connected to protecting children.
The attorney general was joined by a group of state officials and medical specialists, including state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo and Tampa General president Melissa Golombek. Also present were toxicologists from the Florida Poison Information Center, a member of the Florida House of Representatives, and Patty Wheeler, a mother who said she lost her son to a kratom concentrate product and shared her story at the news conference.
Uthmeier tied the action to a wider push to protect children in Florida, placing it alongside efforts against child predators and illicit drugs smuggled into the country. He said such substances would not be tolerated in the state and pledged that Florida would continue working to remove them from store shelves and keep them out of the hands of young people.