7-OH Truth Project<\/a> last month to educate others.<\/p>\nThis is not in the same realm of kids that experiment with pot and THC. This is something completely different and much more deadly<\/p>\n
Rae Heath, son died of 7-OH and kratom overdose<\/p>\n
She is also talking with Texas lawmakers about a bill to criminalize the drug.<\/p>\n
The bill, which she expects to be filed during the upcoming legislative session, would classify kratom extracts and synthetic 7-OH as Schedule I controlled substances, slap manufacturers and unauthorized sellers with felony charges, invoke civil penalties and require mandatory overdose reporting.<\/p>\n
“If this saves another 19-year-old boy, another 17-year-old girl from the same fate, then I just think it’s such a meaningful, meaningful thing,” Heath said.<\/p>\n
In Texas, products with more than a 2% concentration of 7-OH already violate state law, but weak enforcement has kept the product accessible.<\/p>\n
In April, the Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit against two California-based online kratom retailers for selling products that contain between 86 and 96% of the alkaloid content in 7-OH that is supposed to be capped at two percent.<\/p>\n
Other states have proved targeted enforcement works.<\/p>\n
California authorities took action last year after Los Angeles County recorded 10 local 7-OH overdose deaths from 2025 to early 2026.<\/p>\n
“We were alerted by our medical examiner that we were seeing overdose cases involving 7-OH that seemed to be where 7-OH was the cause of the overdose event, and so we quickly put out health alerts, we made sure the community was aware and then we exercised part of the California law that allowed us to go into facilities and run inspections where we looked for 7-OH in kratom products and directed retailers removed them from shelves,” said Dr. Brian Hurley, interim director and medical director of the Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.<\/p>\n
Hurley said they conducted 5,000 inspections countywide and identified and removed kratom products from nearly 500 locations.<\/p>\n
Since that enforcement action started, Hurley said Los Angeles County hasn’t recorded any more 7-OH-related deaths.<\/p>\n
“We did see a direct line, or a timing, between when we took these enforcement actions and when we see a drop in 7-OH overdoses, so that would be a lesson I would want other jurisdictions to consider,” Hurley said.<\/p>\n
Tragedies tied to 7-OH continue making national headlines.<\/p>\n
Famed music producer Tay Keith was found dead in his Nashville apartment in June, according to ABC News. The network reports that, based on his autopsy, he died from a mix of drugs, including 7-OH.<\/p>\n
Last month, two University of Mississippi students were found dead on the same day. Federal prosecutors subsequently arrested a local smoke shop owner and his son for allegedly supplying the students with the drug.<\/p>\n
The arrests show a level of accountability that Heath wants enacted in Texas law.<\/p>\n
A bill was proposed in the Texas Senate during the last legislative session in 2025 with similar goals related to kratom and 7-OH, but it didn’t pass.<\/p>\n
When it comes to tackling addictive drugs in the community, Mike McDaniel, executive director of the Houston High Intensity Drug Tracking Area, said law enforcement officials can’t do it alone.<\/p>\n
What I could assure you about Houston, Texas and our region is that we are very unified in our approach.<\/p>\n
Mike McDaniel, executive director of Houston HIDTA<\/p>\n
He said whether it’s on the federal level or the state level, he’s optimistic there will be some positive changes soon when it comes to addressing this wave of 7-OH deaths.<\/p>\n
“That’s why we’re partnering with treatment addiction professionals, the (Medical Examiner’s) office,” McDaniel said. “What I could assure you about Houston, Texas, and our region is that we are very unified in our approach.”<\/p>\n
This week, the U.S. Department of Justice has already filed an emergency action and notice of intent to make 7-OH a Schedule I drug, which would put it in the same classification as drugs like heroin and LSD.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers can start filing bills in November for next year’s session, and Heath plans to be at the Capitol to fight for Jonas’s Law.<\/p>\n
“I would do anything to have Jonas back, bar none, of course, but if this law gets passed and this stuff is banned, at least his life will have done something good for others,” Heath said.<\/p>\n
Contact 13 Investigates<\/p>\n
Have a tip? A problem to solve? Send a tip below. If you don’t have a photo or document to include, just hit ‘skip upload’ and send the details. (On mobile? You can open our form by tapping here.)<\/a><\/p>\nCopyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) — When Rae Heath stops at a gas station to refuel during long bike rides,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[371204,97],"class_list":["post-884482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-371204","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Source:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/19941239_10152026-fda-opioid-epedemic-7-oh-wave.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n