Health officials warn of dangerous substances available in stores across the country

Health officials take action against a substance that some call “gas station heroin”. The FDA recommends that the 7-hydroximitragynina (also known as 7-OH) (a Kratom plant by-product) be classified as a medicine on list I.

HHS Secretary, RFK Jr. And the FDA curator, Dr. Marty Makary, emphasized the importance of advancing another wave of addiction before it can be devastated by the country. Makary compared the distribution of 7-OH to the first days of opioid recipes, before doctors understood the addictive nature of the painkillers.

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“VAPE stores appear in all the neighborhoods of America and many sell addictive products such as the 7-OH concentrate. After the last wave of the opioid epidemic, we cannot catch up again,” Makary said in a FDA statement. “7-OH is an opioid that can be more powerful than morphine. We need regulation and public education to avoid another wave of the opioid epidemic.”

During a Tuesday press conference, Makary suggested that the Public Health Community is often late to act against dangerous substances due to “disconnection between the ivory towers and the streets.” He then reflected aloud if the experts had been in VAPE stores, as he “affects what we see in the operating room.”

According to the FDA, 7-OH begins to be recognized by its potential to be abused because of its ability to join the opioid receptors. In addition, the substance is widely available and can be attractive to children and adolescents, as it is sold in fruit flavor flavor and even ice cream cones. The FDA is also warning that 7-OH products “may not be clearly or precisely labeled about their 7-OH content and sometimes disguised or marketed as Kratom.”

“ I am in favor of this movement due to the 7-OH relationship with opioid receptors. This is essentially an opioid. It is semi-sinted and derived from the Kratom plant, the leaves that its leaves make a stimulant.There is no drug of 7-OH approved or diet supplements, ” said Dr. Marc Siegel, Dr. Marc Siegel, said Fox News. “Bravo on the FDA for this movement: should be classified as a controlled substance.”

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Kennedy spoke of his own battle with heroin addiction. The secretary of the HHS described his “iron force” and how he gave up candy and dessert for years, making him feel as if he could do anything, until he got his hands on heroin.

“I felt that I could do anything with my willpower, but this obligation was absolutely waterproof to my will, and part of the problem was just availability. It was too easy to get this drug for me,” said Kennedy.

He also said that President Donald Trump’s family has also affected the addiction. Although the president has been sober his entire life, his brother, Fred Trump Jr., fought with alcoholism for much of his life and died at the age of 43.

“I had a brother, cold, a great guy,” Trump said about his brother in 2017. “But he had a problem. He had a problem with alcohol. And he would say,” Don’t drink. Don’t drink. “

Trump said at that time that he heard his brother because he “respected him”, adding -“to this day, I have never drunk.”

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Senator Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., Who attended the press conference, supported the recommendation based on his family’s experience with addiction, although he did not detail exactly who he was referring to.

“It’s an addiction that is ruining lives,” Mullin said at a Tuesday press conference. He thanked Kennedy on behalf of his own family and “all the families who have dealt with this” to act against the powerful drug.

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The CDC reported in May that drugs due to drug overdose in the country dropped in 2024. The United States saw “80,391 deaths from drug overdose in the United States by 2024, a decrease of 26.9% of 110,037 deaths estimated in 2023”. Additionally, the CDC found that “the overdose deaths involved opioids decreased from an estimated 83,140 in 2023 at 54,743 in 2024.”

Kratom, whose plant derives 7-OH, is a tropical tree originally from Southeast Asia. The FDA states that Kratom is often used by self-tract various conditions, such as pain, anxiety and depression. The Agency states that it has not approved a prescription or pharmaceuticals without a recipe containing Kratom or its two main chemical components: Mithragynine and 7-OH.

Serafin Gómez de Fox News contributed to this report.