Florida is now enforcing its ban on 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), following an emergency rule by the attorney general classifying 7-OH as a Schedule I substance. Since August 14, 2025, any product containing more than 400 parts per million of 7-OH is now just as illegal as heroin and fentanyl analogs.
Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson announced the removal of 17,311 packages of concentrated 7-OH from gas stations, vape shops, and convenience stores across more than 20 counties.
“These ‘wellness’ products are nothing more than vape shop morphine, and we will continue using every tool at our disposal to educate and protect families, and make sure these products have no place in our communities,” Commissioner Simpson said.
The emergency rule banning 7-OH came two weeks after an announcement by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Martin A. Makary and Heath and Human Services (HHS) Director Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. that the FDA intends to recommend to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that it ban 7-OH nationwide.
Makary praised Florida’s 7-OH prohibition: “I’m glad to see Florida’s state officials fighting back and educating Floridian parents, law enforcement, professionals, teachers, and community leaders about this threat.”
On September 2, officials in Manatee County announced they are considering banning all kratom, not just 7-OH. A motion to research an ordinance to ban kratom as well as other “designer drugs”, a term used in a similar ordinance in Sarasota County, passed 4-3 in Manatee.
Officials have cited 7-OH’s opioid properties and potential for addictiveness and toxicity shown in some animal studies, while 7-OH advocates say the science is premature, criminalizing people for drugs has caused harm rather than reduced it, and the 7-OH ban is driven by a kratom industry losing share of a market dominated by their own potentially addictive/toxic highly concentrated alkaloid extracts.
Along with the 7-OH ban, RFK Jr.’s influence on Florida’s recent vaccine rule change has been noted. On September 3, Florida’s Department of Health initiated a rule change that eliminates requirements that children receive vaccines for Hepatitis B, chickenpox, Haemophilus influenzae type b, and 15 types of Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has been the most vocal proponent of the vaccine rule change, stating at a September 2025 press conference, “Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? I don’t have that right. Your body is a gift from God.” He has characterized vaccine mandates as immoral and even likened them to slavery, arguing that medical decisions should rest solely with families.
When asked whether the Department of Health had conducted any analysis on the public health impact of lifting these mandates, Ladapo replied, “Absolutely not… Do I need to analyze whether it’s appropriate for parents to be able to decide what goes into their children’s bodies? I don’t need an analysis on that.”
Ladapo is also a professor of medicine at the University of Florida’s academic health center, UF Health. In a response to the vaccine rollbacks, UF Health released a statement: “Public health and safety is a shared responsibility. The overwhelming consensus of the medical and public health communities shows that vaccines are among the most studied and scrutinized medical interventions in history…They are proven to be safe, effective, and essential in preventing the spread of many serious infectious diseases.”