Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine last year wrote a letter to New York State Health Commissioner James McDonald about a “drug known as 7-OH… a synthetic compound that is made in a laboratory and is a concentrated version of a compound found in a low concentration” in a “leaf product called kratom… Both kratom and 7-OH are sold over the counter in smoke shops and gas stations throughout my county.”
“7-OH is known as ‘drug store’ heroin,” said Romaine. “Its full name is 7-hydroxymitragynine,” he noted. “It is available in our community in convenience stores, smoke shops, and most gas stations. 7-OH is sold in tangerine- and berry-flavored tabs, packaged like candy, in 15 mg and 30 mg tabs,” he said. “They cost approximately $6 and $19 per pill, respectively.”
“7-OH behaves in the body like an opiate,” said the county executive. “It results in rapid, sinister physical dependence…. The drug is on TikTok” and pitched as “a treatment for anxiety and depression. Users can get hooked” in “a little over a month. The withdrawal experience is severe and prolonged.”
“I am concerned with the availability of this unregulated drug increasing in our community,” wrote Romaine. “Currently, 7-OH is banned in the state of Florida, and the FDA is considering making it a Schedule I drug.”
“The lack of awareness of what this is,” said Romaine, “has provided a loophole for dangerous, legal opiate/opiate-like risk in our community. I would encourage your office to act quickly before it creates another public health crisis. We need to stay ahead of this.”
Romaine sent copies of his letter to members of the State Legislature.
At the end of 2025 came an announcement from the office of New York Governor Kathy Hochul that “two pieces of landmark legislation to protect New Yorkers against the harmful effects of commercial herbal products known as kratom,” passed by the State Legislature, were “signed by the governor.”
Hochul was quoted as saying, “No parent in New York should have to endure the loss of a child to a substance simply because they didn’t know what it is. This legislation ensures transparency and strengthens our public health laws so that information about the ingredients and potential harmful risks associated with kratom are clear.”
Still, State Assemblyman Peter Steck of Schenectady told me last week that “much more regulation is needed.”
Said Steck: “I am proud the governor signed my bill requiring warning labels on kratom products and another restricting kratom sales to individuals under 21. These are important steps forward. However, much more regulation is needed to safeguard people from the dangers associated with kratom.”
“I am currently working to pass legislation that would prohibit the sale of products containing 7-hydroxymitragynine, synthetic kratom, at levels exceeding 2 percent of total alkaloids or one milligram per serving,” he continued. He said that “7-hydroxymitragynine acts like an opioid and can lead to addictive behaviors, which may result in serious consequences for users. I am working hard this session to get this measure passed to better protect New Yorkers.”
He added, “It is also important that there be stronger federal regulation so kratom can be properly evaluated and addressed at the national level, given its potential for abuse and lack of approved medical use.”
Another bill on kratom under consideration in the State Legislature is a measure sponsored by Assemblyman Edward P. Ra of Franklin Square on Long Island which, it declares, “establishes kratom… as a Schedule I controlled substance.” Such substances have a “high abuse risk” and “no safe accepted medical use.”
A key aspect of the kratom issue is 7-OH, which, although it makes up a tiny portion of the kratom leaf—less than 1 percent—can be and is being synthesized to a strength many times its potency in the plant.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a report last July titled “Preventing the Next Wave of the Opioid Epidemic: What You Need to Know About 7-OH.” It said that 7-OH “is a powerful psychoactive compound that occurs naturally in very small amounts in the kratom plant.” But, as the heading of one page of the report stated, “7-OH Is Engineered to Be Addictive. It Is a Potent Opioid by Design.”
“This dangerous opioid is sitting on store shelves, making gas stations and convenience stores risky places where kids can purchase these drugs as easily as buying candy,” said the report.
It went on: “‘Enhanced’ or ‘spiked’ kratom products may appear to be natural leaf, but actually contain as much as 500 percent more 7-OH than would be expected naturally.” Further: “7-OH is 13x more potent than morphine.”
Suffolk County government has been a leader in taking on kratom. In 2016, the Suffolk County Legislature passed a measure, authored by Legislator Steve Stern of Dix Hills and signed into law by then-County Executive Steve Bellone, banning the sale of kratom in Suffolk County to anyone under 21.
It declared: “This Legislature… finds and determines that kratom affects the brain like an opiate and can be highly addictive…. This Legislature also finds that long-term use of kratom has significant negative health effects…. Withdrawal symptoms are very similar to opiate withdrawal, including severe depression, anxiety, psychosis…. This Legislature further finds that overdoses of kratom are also dangerous, causing hallucinations, delusions, listlessness, tremors, aggression….”
Penalties for those who “sell, offer for sale or otherwise distribute kratom in the County of Suffolk to any person under the age of 21,” says the law, “shall be… punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or up to one year’s imprisonment.”
In an interview in 2025, Stern, now a member of the New York State Assembly, said, “Suffolk County was early on this.” He said he was pleased that the State Legislature had just passed the measure expanding statewide the Suffolk ban on the sale of kratom to those under 21.
Much more, indeed, needs to be done—on the state and national levels. As Romaine said, “We need to stay ahead of this.”