To the editor: The call of food and medicines administration to classify 7-hydroximitragynine (7-OH) as an annex I drug is unjustified (“What to know about synthetic Kratom, the supplement is prohibited in socal and in the United States,” August 20). 7-OH is a natural extract of the Kratom plant and the vast majority of deaths linked to use involved other drugs or pollutants. Regulators have not presented sufficient evidence of damage, but propose a prohibition that deprives relief patients.
After spinal surgery left me with constant pain, doctors prescribed opioids, but feared that they get worse and created dependence. I needed an alternative that could relieve pain without leaving disabilities. 7-Oh provides that. It reduces my pain and calms my anxiety enough for me to work and live, and has not brought to dependence.
Regulation must ensure that these products are not sold or sold to young people. But ban 7-OH would eliminate the only option that many patients have found to control pain without opioids. That would punish patients while doing nothing to protect the public.
Philip Ray, Huntington Beach
