Seven Hydroxy, a Potent New Derivative of Kratom
A lot has changed since the 1990s, when smoke shops bore signs certifying that the water pipes they sold were “for tobacco only.” Today, not only can you buy an array of cannabis products, but you can also buy an array of plants and fungi with known psychoactive properties, the kinds of drugs that only true seekers knew about a generation ago, when they spoke about them in hushed tones, even while everyone else present was smoking weed. Today, psilocybin mushrooms and kratom announce their presence in neon lights on the windows of strip mall smoke shops where shady pain clinics once stood. Of course, new drugs enter the illegal drug supply in waves, and drug laws are always changing. Sometimes multiple people overdose on a drug before legislators decide to outlaw it, and thousands of people serve long prison sentences for drugs that the public knows are not especially dangerous but which remain targets of criminalization. Kratom has gone from being a drug for connoisseurs only to standing beside cannabis as a health fad that puts you in a better mood than any chia smoothie could do, and now it has morphed into something more dangerous and attracted the usual media fearmongering that accompanies such phenomena. If you are facing criminal charges related to kratom of 7-hydroxymitragynine, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.
A Side of Kratom You’ve Never Seen Before
The term “kratom” refers to the leaves of the Mitragyna speciosa tree, which grows in the wild throughout Southeast Asia and parts of Oceania. It has a long history as a medicinal plant, valued for its pain-relieving effects. People have been chewing or smoking the leaves of kratom for centuries, or brewing it into a beverage called kava.
In Florida, you can legally buy kratom, but recently people have been selling a potent drug derived from kratom. It is 7-hydroxymitragynine, also known as 7-OH or seven hydroxy. The symptoms of 7-OH intoxication resemble the symptoms of opioid intoxication, and like opioids, 7-OH appears to cause severe withdrawal symptoms. In other words, 7-OH could claim the title of “gas station heroin,” a title once held by tianeptine, a tricyclic antidepressant which has never been available by prescription in the United States but which still shows up in gas station dietary supplements such as Neptune’s Fix.
One can easily get the idea that journalists resort to headlines that say “X is the new fentanyl” whenever it is a slow news day. The real cause for alarm is when the new “monster of the week” drug is not an opioid, so its effects cannot be reversed with naloxone. Thus far, it is unknown whether naloxone is effective against 7-OH intoxication.
Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases
A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges for possession of seven hydroxy, a derivative of kratom. Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Sources:
winknews.com/wink_investigations/wink-investigates-controversy-over-kratom-in-swfl/article_96e74343-7a71-4a31-84ef-f3e7cca21d60.html
wfla.com/news/florida/new-florida-bill-proposes-stricter-regulations-on-kratom/
