{"id":321580,"date":"2026-06-27T06:41:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/321580\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T06:41:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:41:19","slug":"florida-designates-highly-concentrated-kratom-chemical-as-schedule-1-drug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/321580\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida designates highly concentrated kratom chemical as Schedule 1 drug"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida designates highly concentrated kratom chemical as Schedule 1 drug<\/p>\n

\"Kyle<\/a>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n

Florida lawmakers have classified highly concentrated 7-OH, a synthetic chemical found in kratom, as a Schedule 1 drug, citing its potency and links to nearly 600 overdose deaths in the state since 2013. <\/p>\n

Kratom, a plant native to Southeast Asia, contains trace amounts of 7-OH in its natural form, but some places synthesize the chemical into highly concentrated doses, which the Food and Drug Administration says can be more potent than morphine. <\/p>\n

Laura Rasmussen, owner of Kava Nirvana in Fort Myers, said her business only serves natural kratom products. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t to get high, this is a holistic overall approach to wellness,\u201d Rasmussen said. <\/p>\n

She expressed support for the emergency ruling against highly concentrated 7-OH products. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was elated. I am very against going away from a natural product,\u201d Rasmussen said. <\/p>\n

Amy Dudley, an assistant professor at Florida Gulf Coast University and a family nurse practitioner, said the classification is significant. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually being put in the same category as heroin and LSD in Florida,\u201d Dudley said. <\/p>\n

Dudley explained that highly concentrated 7-OH products act on opioid receptors<\/a> and can lead to addiction. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe products that are out there can have contaminants, they can be laced, the misdosing, they can even have bacteria,\u201d Dudley said. <\/p>\n

Fort Myers resident Will Souza emphasized the importance of being cautious about product sources. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do think it is good to be wary of where you are getting your product,\u201d Souza said. <\/p>\n

Dudley noted that kratom remains under-researched and is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. <\/p>\n

In Florida, kratom is legal in all counties except Sarasota County, and buyers must be 21 or older.<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida designates highly concentrated kratom chemical as Schedule 1 drug TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 Florida lawmakers have classified highly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[133309,133312,7903,3668,104,28,30,29,575,40287,133311,213,133310,133313,16505,8561,221],"class_list":["post-321580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-amy-dudley","tag-concentrated-7-oh","tag-county","tag-drug","tag-entertainment","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-food","tag-kratom","tag-kratom-chemical","tag-late-news","tag-laura-rasmussen","tag-natural-kratom-product","tag-product","tag-schedule","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}