Addiction treatment centers across the United States are reporting a sharp increase in patients seeking help for dependence on kratom and, increasingly, highly concentrated products containing 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kratom comes from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia and has been available in the United States for decades. Traditionally sold as powders, capsules or teas, it is commonly used for energy, mood enhancement, pain relief or to self-manage withdrawal from substances such as opioids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But clinicians say the market has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Newer products\u2014including gummies, tablets and liquid shots\u2014can contain concentrated amounts of 7-OH, a naturally occurring kratom compound normally present only in trace quantities. Unlike the primary alkaloid traditionally associated with kratom, 7-OH acts directly on opioid receptors and can produce stronger opioid-like effects, including sedation and euphoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Treatment providers say dependence can develop surprisingly quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At telehealth addiction provider Boulder Care, patients reporting kratom use represented about 3% of new patients in September 2025. That proportion increased to 8% in July 2026 and jumped to 14% in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other treatment centers are observing similar patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Massachusetts inpatient facilities operated by Recovery Centers of America previously admitted no more than about one kratom-related patient per week. They are now seeing approximately 10 to 20 people each week who are dependent on kratom or 7-OH, or who use the substances as part of a broader addiction problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clinicians say withdrawal symptoms are becoming more severe as concentrated products become more common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patients can experience agitation, anxiety, sweating, insomnia, loss of appetite and diarrhea\u2014symptoms that resemble traditional opioid withdrawal. Some treatment providers say they now approach severe 7-OH withdrawal similarly to withdrawal involving drugs such as oxycodone or heroin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trend is particularly concerning because many consumers do not initially perceive these products as potentially addictive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kratom products are often available at gas stations, smoke shops and other retail locations. Some people begin using them for chronic pain, anxiety or energy without realizing that physical dependence can develop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clinicians are seeing two broad groups seeking treatment: people with little previous experience with substance use and patients with histories of opioid or alcohol addiction who began using kratom to manage symptoms or maintain recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Treatment remains complicated because scientific research is limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early case reports suggest medications commonly used for opioid use disorder, including buprenorphine, sometimes combined with naloxone, may help manage kratom-related dependence. Methadone may also have potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Boulder Care, nearly one-third of new patients beginning buprenorphine treatment in August reported currently using kratom or 7-OH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Federal regulators are paying increasing attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FDA has characterized concentrated 7-OH products as an emerging opioid threat, while the Drug Enforcement Administration has proposed restrictions that could effectively prohibit products containing 7-OH above certain concentrations. Several states have already enacted their own restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ironically, limiting access may temporarily increase demand for addiction treatment as people who have developed physical dependence suddenly lose access and experience withdrawal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, experts caution against assuming treatment-center reports represent every kratom user. People experiencing mild withdrawal or successfully stopping without professional assistance would not appear in clinic statistics, meaning available treatment data may disproportionately represent severe cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The broader trend nevertheless highlights an important distinction between traditional kratom and increasingly concentrated 7-OH products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What may begin as an easily accessible product marketed for energy, pain or wellness can, for some consumers, progress into tolerance, dependence and severe withdrawal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As stronger derivatives become more widely available, addiction specialists are confronting a rapidly evolving challenge\u2014one developing faster than the scientific evidence and regulatory system designed to understand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rise is substantial but should be interpreted carefully: these are reports from individual treatment providers rather than a nationally representative measure of kratom addiction. Nevertheless, Federal survey data shows that the number of Americans who had ever tried kratom increased from roughly 4 million in 2019 to 5 million in 2023, while poison-center reports involving kratom have risen sharply over the past decade. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Addiction treatment centers across the United States are reporting a sharp increase in patients seeking help for dependence on kratom and, increasingly, highly concentrated products containing 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH. Kratom comes from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia and has been available in the United States for decades. Traditionally sold as powders, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3904,220,4079],"tags":[4049,4130,1051,1276],"class_list":["post-10982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-news","category-science","tag-addiction","tag-kratom","tag-today","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10986,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10982\/revisions\/10986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}