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Kratom Is Not Heroin
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Kratomisnotcomparabletoheroin.

The people who would regulate kratom to get rid of their competition, and the people who want to ban it all, both want you to believe they care about your health and the community at large.

When you pull back the curtain, you see both of them are tied to companies selling their own addictive products, from kava and kratom shots, to buprenorphine shots.

Follow the money and see where it goes. Skip intro

Pick a thread

Where do you want to start?

Every page links to the others. You can't take a wrong turn.

Who wants what

Two camps. Both selling something.

Camp one

Regulate out the competition

Leaf sellers who want their product kept and their concentrated competitors gone.

  1. Botanic Tonics sells Feel Free, a kava and kratom leaf shot. It says its yearly sales passed $250 million.

  2. Its founder, Jerry W. Ross, gave $161,800 to Kennedy Victory Fund. The company gave MAHA PAC $500,000 on March 4, 2026 and $500,000 on April 9.

  3. Stop Gas Station Heroin LLC paid the lobbying firm Checkmate $750,000. Its executive director, Matthew Lowe, also leads the Global Kratom Coalition. The New York Times reported that Ross's allies set it up.

  4. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin disclosed a Botanic Tonics stake worth $500,001 to $1 million.

  5. The American Kratom Association backed scheduling concentrated 7-OH on July 1, 2026.

  6. The End Gas Station Heroin Act, named like the LLC, exempts leaf products under its limits and goes after concentrates.

What we thinkThey say this is about your safety. We think it is about market share.

Camp two

Ban it all

Groups that want every form of kratom gone, leaf included.

  1. Smart Approaches to Marijuana asked for Schedule I for all kratom. Its sister group, FDPS, runs Ban Kratom Now. Kevin Sabet leads both.

  2. Co-founder Patrick J. Kennedy has sat on the board of Braeburn since December 12, 2017. Braeburn sells Brixadi, a buprenorphine injection.

  3. FDPS paid $55,194 to Sabet's own firms in 2024, about 18% of its spending.

  4. FDPS's leadership council includes people from addiction-treatment businesses. An End Kratom Addiction adviser owns a rehab center.

  5. Sen. Chuck Grassley wants all kratom off store shelves. With Sens. Lee and Collins he asked for the whole plant to be scheduled.

  6. SAM says it takes no pharmaceutical money.

What we thinkThey say this is about your health. We think you should look at who sells the treatment.

Where we stand

Not with either camp. Kratom alkaloids are not street opioids, and concentrated 7-OH is strong enough that the dose belongs on the label. We want tested products, honest labels, child-resistant packs, a 21-and-up age limit and naloxone on the shelf. We oppose bans on alkaloids, caps that would knock out plain leaf, and any crime for simple possession.

Read the science

Scale

What kills people this year

Every counter runs from January 1 in your time zone, at the yearly rate in its source. Kratom gets two rows, because the two ways of counting give very different numbers. Both are defined.

Deaths so far this year, at each row's yearly rate.

  1. TobaccoYearly estimate, includes secondhand smokeCDC, smoking and tobacco
    480,000a year
  2. AlcoholYearly average, 2020 to 2021, modeled, includes chronic diseaseCDC MMWR 2024;73(8)
    178,307a year
  3. Synthetic opioids (mostly fentanyl)Overdose deaths, 2024CDC NCHS Data Brief 549
    47,735a year
  4. Meth and other stimulantsOverdose deaths, 2024CDC NCHS Data Brief 549
    28,722a year
  5. CocaineOverdose deaths, 2024CDC NCHS Data Brief 549
    21,945a year
  6. Benzodiazepines involvedOverdose deaths, 2023NIDA, overdose death rates
    10,870a year
  7. Prescription opioidsNatural and semisynthetic, overdose deaths, 2024CDC NCHS Data Brief 549
    7,989a year
  8. HeroinOverdose deaths, 2024CDC NCHS Data Brief 549
    2,743a year
  9. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) involvedYearly average, 2019 to 2020, 44 jurisdictionsCDC MMWR 2022;71(41)
    1,113a year
  10. Kratom involvedPoison-center reports, 233 deaths over 11 years (2015 to 2025). 79% involved other substances. Involved is not caused. Likely an undercount.CDC MMWR 2026;75(11)
    21.2a year
  11. Kratom, only substance reported49 of those 233 listed no other substance. That means none was reported, not that toxicology ruled others out.CDC MMWR 2026;75(11)
    4.5a year

Different systems count deaths differently. This shows scale, not a safety ranking.

What they tell you

Check the rumor. Then check the record.

Each card is a line you have heard. Flip it to see what the record says and who said it first.

Rumors checked 0 / 14

The record so far

Cards on the board
95
Money lines on the record
11
Rumors checked
14
7-OH orders published
0