7-OH May Remain in Florida’s Legal Drug Supply Even After Its Classification as a Schedule I Controlled Substance

Some of the most dangerous drugs in the world are legal for medical use in the United States, at least in theory. Fentanyl has caused more overdose deaths in recent years than any other drug; it has become a byword for the deadliest wave of the decades-old opioid addiction epidemic. Despite this, it is still widely used in medicine, because it is effective in tiny doses. A forensics lab will show that the fentanyl in the shady drug mixture purchased on the street corner from powders purchased on the dark web is the same drug in the transdermal patches given to cancer patients and the same drug administered, one tiny drop at a time, by anesthesiologists to patients undergoing surgery. Fentanyl is a Schedule II controlled substance, as is cocaine, the drug that terrified the nation in the 1980s. Therefore, if something is a Schedule I controlled substance, it must be truly scary. Schedule I is reserved for drugs so dangerous that doctors are never allowed to use them in clinical practice, all cannabis exceptions and psychedelic aspirations aside. Earlier this year, Florida classified 7-hydroxymitragynine, also known as 7-OH, as a Schedule I controlled substance after the drug, which was that time widely available over the counter, caused an alarming number of overdoses and adverse reactions. If you are facing charges for illegal possession of 7-OH, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.

Police Scrutinize Smoke Shop Inventory for Banned 7-OH Pills

Plenty of shady pills that you can buy from stores that stay open all night in shady parts of town have been known by the nickname, “gas station heroin,” but for 7-OH, the name is a little bit too on the nose. 7-OH occurs naturally in the leaves of the kratom plant, but before kratom plastered its name all over neon signs in the windows of vape shops, people began distilling 7-OH and selling it in high concentrations in pill form. The usual place to buy these pills was gas stations and what were then known as head shops but, given the changes in the legal landscape, are now simply called smoke shops or vape shops.

Devotees of 7-OH will tell you that the drug does what opioids promise to do, namely, it relieves pain. Unfortunately, it also has in common with opioids the ability to produce severe, even life-threatening withdrawal symptoms. After a spike in medical emergencies related to 7-OH, Florida categorized 7-OH as a Schedule I controlled substance, but anecdotal evidence suggests that 7-OH pills are still available for sale. Recently, law enforcement have been going to smoke shops throughout Florida and testing pills for the presence of 7-OH.

Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases

A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing charges for possessing drug mixtures containing 7-OH.  Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-inspectors-crack-down-on-banned-chemical-7-oh-in-smoke-shops/