Public Comments Show How 7-OH Ban Would Harm Pain Patients
/By Crystal Lindell
Leigh Ann Matthews is a 51 year old woman with chronic pain. She lives alone, makes less than $2,000 per month, and can’t afford health insurance.
She relies on 7-OH for pain relief, and doesn’t know how she’ll be able to work if it’s banned.
“Please don’t make me suffer with chronic pain by taking away the ONLY thing that has helped me tremendously,” she wrote. “I have no family or friends to lean on or help me. I don’t abuse 7-OH. I’m so afraid.”
Matthews is one of the thousands of people who have shared their stories in the Federal Registrar in response to the DEA announcing plans to make concentrated forms of the kratom alkaloid 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) an illegal Schedule 1 controlled substance.
As of July 24, more than 20,000 comments had been submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Reading through them makes some of the common themes jump out. There are thousands of personal, individual stories that are clearly coming from real people with real fears.
Many are from chronic pain patients who say that 7-OH has given them their lives back. In fact, a search for the phrase "my life back" turns up 290 comments. A search for "chronic pain" returns 2,608 results.
"I'm a 50-year-old male with multiple sclerosis. I live my life with chronic pain,” wrote Gabriel Duley. “It is so hard to get out of bed to even take a shower. Doctors do not prescribe pain medications. Please do not take 7-OH away. It's the only thing that has given my life back to me."
Tyler Bartone is 30 years old and lives in Ohio. He wrote that he has suffered from chronic pain since he was 22, after a motorcycle accident broke both his legs.
"Oxycodone, hydrocodone, Suboxone, and tramadol all got tried over those years, and none of them let me function the way I needed to,” Bartone wrote. “When I found 7-OH, that changed. I can walk my dogs now. I can play with my kids. I stopped relying on opioid pain medication because this actually worked for my pain in a way [that] those didn't."
He shared that he takes 30 to 60 mg of 7-OH spread across 4 to 5 doses a day, and that amount has stayed steady for the 1 to 2 years he has used it.
"What scares me is what happens after a ban like this. People in my situation, and others I know who rely on 7-OH daily just to function, would be left with two options: go back to opioid prescriptions that didn't work as well, or turn to street drugs,” Bartone explained. “I know people would die from that second option. That is the real hazard here, not the milligrams in a tested tablet.”
Bartone said he would support rules that “keep this market honest.” Rules like a 21 and up age requirement, mandatory lab testing with published results, child-resistant packaging, and clear dosage labeling.
Unrealistic Threshold
The DEA’s scheduling order limits the amount of 7-OH to no more than 0.05% of a product by weight or volume, the equivalent of about 0.5 mg 7-OH per tablet. Virtually all 7-OH products currently on the market have much higher dosages. Bartone thinks it’s an unrealistic threshold.
“I'm asking HHS to set any threshold based on how people actually take this, not a number that erases the product entirely,” Bartone said.
Katherine Loperena, a 33 year old who works in sales and suffers from chronic pain, also shared her story. She said for the past 1 to 2 years she has used more than 60 mg of 7-OH a day, split across 2 to 3 doses.
"What scares me most is going back to the days when chronic pain decided whether I could work or not," she wrote. "I lost jobs because the pain became too much to push through, and I spent years choosing between showing up in agony or protecting my income. Before 7-OH, I had tried oxycodone, alcohol, cannabis, and over the counter pain relievers, and none of [them] gave me a real way to manage day to day life."
Lindsay Huffman also shared how 7-OH has helped her manage the chronic pain she’s had for five years.
“Without it, I would have no way to treat my pain,” she writes. “It has been massively beneficial to my quality of life. Banning it would affect thousands of people who just want to be able to function and have finally found some hope."
Kyle Whitman wrote just one sentence: "Please don’t do this."
Lane Reeves said simply, "This should be available for chronic pain patients with no insurance!!"
Rolando Smith shared how he uses 25-50 mg of 7-OH a day, which he says, “has made my life so much more enjoyable through the ability to no longer feel immense pain all day long.”
“I take 7-OH not to feel anything such as a high, but rather to just eliminate the feeling of pain that usually lasts hours each day,” Smith explained. “7-OH is a perfect substance for my pain compared to other painkillers I have received as I am not a fan of overly euphoric or ‘high’ feeling drugs.”
Smith said he’s had no issues with withdrawal or dependence from using 7-OH.
“I've been an on and off user for about a year now, and find it easy to quit when I want to lower my tolerance or run out of supply and feel too lazy to get more. Personally I have not felt negative effects physically or mentally with using this substance and I never feel the need to take any more than what makes my pain disappear,” he wrote.
Patricia Metz shared how she takes 7-OH a few times a week to help with chronic pain from a serious injury. Without it, she doesn’t think she’d be able to work and provide for her child.
"This product has given me back a quality of life I couldn't otherwise have," Metz writes. "I have had six surgeries, countless hours of physical therapy, and spent years working with pain management with no meaningful result. 7-hydroxymitragynine is far safer than prescription pain management and far more accessible.
“There are thousands of people with a similar story who rely on 7-OH, many of whom are scared to death right now because they feel the rug being pulled from under their feet and see a future of pain ahead. I fear that removing access to this valuable resource will drive a good number of those people to dangerous and deadly street drugs."
The American Kratom Association (AKA), which represents natural leaf kratom vendors, is in favor of banning 7-OH. It recently sent a letter to HHS, claiming many of the public comments in support of 7-OH are ”Coordinated, Duplicate, Fictitious, and Financially Incentivized.”
According to the AKA, many of the comments are personal stories and should not be considered as part of the scientific analysis of an appropriate 7-OH threshold. The letter also said some 7-OH vendors are offering discounts to consumers who show that they have left a comment.
There is still time to leave a public comment on the scheduling of 7-OH before the July 31 deadline.
In 2016, the DEA changed course and dropped plans to ban kratom after a public outcry. At the time, the DEA received over 22,000 public comments in the Federal Register, a record number on any issue. It seems likely that record will be broken again.
