TAMPA, Fla. — Around the Tampa Bay region, consumers can walk into smoke shops and gas stations and buy a substance that experts say mimics a powerful opioid.

No prescription is required. The products are virtually unregulated: Bills to curb their sale have repeatedly died in Tallahassee. State and federal regulators have done almost nothing to intervene.

Scientists say the substance, called 7-hydroxymitragynine or 7-OH, poses a public health threat. The potent chemical is found in low quantities in the kratom plant, and a few 7-hydroxymitragynine products evoke the herb in their packaging.

But they’re far stronger than kratom leaf — and far more dangerous, experts say.

“I am extremely concerned about these semi-synthetic products and I believe they could take society in another opioid pandemic direction,” Abhisheak Sharma, a leading kratom researcher at the University of Florida, said in an email.

As 7-OH has become more ubiquitous in Florida and more curious consumers are trying the offerings, lawmakers in Tallahassee are again looking for ways to regulate it along with kratom.

Republicans in both chambers have proposed banning pure 7-hydroxymitragynine products.

“Those are incredibly and inherently dangerous to our community,” said GOP state Sen. Jay Collins in an interview. “We’ve got to get ahead of this.”

An initial bill filed by Collins died in a Senate committee. But he plans to attach an amendment banning 7-OH onto another bill he’s sponsoring that still has hope of passing, an aide said. The legislative session ends May 2.

Kratom itself is typically sold as a dusty green psychoactive powder and comes from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree. A Tampa Bay Times investigation from 2023 found that hundreds of people in Florida died from kratom-related overdoses even as the industry touted its products as safe.

Kratom contains many chemical compounds, known as alkaloids, and 7-hydroxymitragynine is the one that most worries researchers. In recent years, upstart companies have begun selling tablets and pills that isolate the chemical, delivering it in much larger — and stronger — quantities than exist in nature.

During the newsroom’s investigation, reporters bought 20 kratom products and had them tested by researchers at the University of Florida to determine their strength.

One was a packet of 7-hydroxymitragynine pills purchased online from the company 7ΩHMZ. The results alarmed Sharma, who likened the product to “legal morphine.”

More than a year later, companies are selling a growing variety of similar products in stores and online.

And they’re getting even stronger.

The Times’ testing showed the 7ΩHMZ tablets had 15 milligrams of 7-hydroxymitragynine. The Dozo Perks tablets for sale in Tampa claim to be more than three times as potent.

Many products, which retail for about $20 for a few pills, come in bright packaging, advertising a variety of flavors like “chill berry,” “mintopia” and “wild mango.”

Kratom researchers are concerned about the compound’s chemical profile, which they say indicates it can be highly addictive. Testimonials about people’s struggles with 7-OH are not hard to find in online addiction forums on Reddit. Consumers warn of difficulty quitting the pills, comparing their withdrawals to those experienced after heroin use.

Industry groups that support 7-hydroxymitragynine proprietors insist the products are safe.

J.D. McCormick, the chairperson of the American Healthy Alternatives Association, said in an email that 7-hydroxymitragynine doesn’t interact with the brain how opioids do — meaning the products are less likely to have deadly side effects like respiratory depression.

But Christopher McCurdy, another leading kratom researcher at the University of Florida, disputed that.

Low dose studies in animals indicate that 7-OH has a strong potential for abuse and addiction, he said.

Another prominent trade group for 7-hydroxymitragynine businesses, the Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust says its mission is to fight the American opioid crisis with a new set of tools, including 7-OH. The group, which is lobbying in Tallahassee this year, argues the products should be available to give consumers more options.

But any product claiming to help with pain or opioid withdrawal would be considered a drug and must be approved for use, according to federal law. No 7-hydroxymitragynine products have gone through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s extensive drug approval process.

Companies instead often hint to their effects without directly saying what they’re for.

Opia, a company whose offerings can be found in a Pinellas Park wellness store, appears to allude to opioids with its name. “Perks” is also common shorthand for Percocet, another opioid.

At a Tampa smoke shop, customers could buy a package of four Dozo Perks maximum strength tablets: 50 milligrams of 7-hydroxymitragynine per tablet. (The suggested serving size: one quarter of a dime-sized pill.) On the packaging, the company advertises that they provide “instant relief.”

Pop7Tabz, which is distributed by a Tampa company, offers a “rapid release formula” for its “ultra potent” 30 milligram tablets. (The product packaging says each pill contains two 15 milligram servings.) On its website, it says its products offer “pain relief” — an apparent drug claim.

McCurdy, the kratom researcher at the University of Florida, said there’s been no studies in humans or animals to show any marketed 7-hydroxymitragynine products are safe. He said 7-OH companies should be subject to the FDA’s drug regulations.

Like kratom, 7-hydroxymitragynine products fall into a regulatory gray area. The FDA has not banned the compound, but it’s not being sold as a dietary supplement or a drug under existing guidelines.

STNR Creations, which offers a line of 7-OH tablets, affixes a sticker to its products that says, “This is a dietary supplement.” Under federal rules, the company is required to tell federal regulators of its intention to sell the product as a supplement. But according to a federal database, it has not.

Opia did not respond to emailed requests for comment. A reporter submitted questions to Dozo, to 7ΩHMZ, to the company that distributes Pop7Tabz and to STNR Creations via online forms on the companies’ websites. None responded.

Florida’s proposed legislation would curb the amount of 7-hydroxymitragynine that can be in kratom products — essentially banning the pure tablets being sold around the state, Collins said. Similar legislation, championed by the American Kratom Association, has passed in about a dozen states.

Many in the kratom industry say 7-OH products should not be considered kratom.

“These are serious synthesized products, and they have to go,” Mac Haddow, the association’s chief lobbyist, said in an interview.

Collins earlier this year sought sweeping regulations for kratom and related products. The only current kratom rule in Florida is that it can’t be sold to those younger than 21.

Under Collins’ legislation, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would have gotten nearly $4 million to hire two dozen employees charged with ensuring kratom products are tested by independent laboratories for compliance with state laws. It would also have limited the amount of mitragynine, the active ingredient in kratom, that companies can pack into products.

The agriculture department is already working to enforce food safety standards on kratom products, a spokesperson wrote in an email. But without better federal oversight, the department says there’s little it can do.

“There are problems beyond our department’s jurisdiction and legal authority to address,” the spokesperson, Aaron Keller, wrote.

The FDA did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

Broader kratom regulation will have to wait for another time. Now, only the 7-hydroxymitragynine ban is on the table. The senate is set to hear that bill in a committee Tuesday.

If no fix comes this year, Collins said he’d try again in 2026.

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