The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recommending banning a compound found in unregulated tablets, gummies and drink mixes sold online and at gas stations and convenience stores, the Trump administration announced this week.<\/p>\n
The substance, known as 7-OH, will be scheduled as an illicit drug if the Drug Enforcement Administration<\/a> \u2212 a branch of the US Justice Department responsible for classifying drugs as controlled substances \u2212 approves the sanction after a review.<\/p>\n “Dark innovations in chemistry have exacerbated the addiction crisis in this country,” US Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neil told reporters during a Tuesday, July 29, press conference in Washington DC.<\/a> “Synthetic opioids like carfentanill and the substance we’re here to take action on today: 7-Hydroxymitragynine.” O’Neil said 7-hydroxymitragynine<\/a>, 7-OH, is deliberately addictive and a powerful opioid agonist many times more potent than morphine.<\/p>\n Calling it “a recipe for public health disaster,” O\u2019Neill, said 7-OH products are often sold without warnings or controls.<\/p>\n “We\u2019ve seen a disturbing rise in reports of overdoses, poisonings and emergency room visits linked to products containing 7-OH,\u201d O’Neil said. “These substances are often sold online or in convenience stores with no quality control, no dosage control and no warnings.”<\/p>\n ‘They’ve killed thousands and thousands’<\/p>\n During the press conference, FDA commissioner Martin Makary<\/a> spoke alongside US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.<\/a>, as they announced they planned to send warning letters to companies for illegally marketing products containing 7-OH in an effort to combat the country’s opioid addiction problem.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a history in public health of being asleep at the wheel,\u201d Makary said. \u201cPublic health is supposed to prevent disasters, not just clean them up after they\u2019ve killed thousands and thousands of people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n