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California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared war on kratom, an unregulated herbal medicine that comes from the leaves of the mitragyna plant in Southeast Asia.
In a Facebook post last week, the governor boasted that state agents have removed over 3,300 kratom and related 7-OH products from the shelves of licensed businesses in California in just three weeks.
This is in response to growing numbers of kratom-related deaths.
Newsom points out that from 2020-22, 242 deaths in the state have been linked to kratom, with 27 due to kratom alone.
Now that many kratom products have been stripped from the shelves of California gas stations and convenience stores, problem solved, right? WRONG.
Unfortunately, Newsom’s response only scratches the surface of the problem.
Since October, the California Department of Public Health has considered kratom products illegal for sale in California. This is a small step in the right direction, but it hardly solves the problem.
Consider: Kratom is highly addictive; physicians and hospitals don’t routinely test for it as part of our toxicology panels; and it is also not routinely tested for during autopsies.
This means that kratom use and overdose is being vastly underestimated.
According to the CDC, in the US there are 5 million regular users of kratom products with 846 deaths linked to kratom in 2022 in 30 states.
Consider also that in the US recent data reveals that “10–15 million people consume kratom primarily for the self-treatment of pain, psychiatric disorders, to mitigate withdrawal from or dependence on opioids, and to self-treat opioid use disorder or other substance use disorders.”
And this is only for supposed self-medication. When you add in recreational use, that number soars, especially in California.
According to the Global Kratom Coalition in late 2025 and early 2026, about 3 million people in California are currently using kratom.
Kratom products directly affect the opioid receptors (MU) of the brain. And with 7-OH, which is hyper-concentrated and sometimes synthetic, the impact –– according to the FDA –– is 13 times greater than morphine.
No wonder we are seeing overdose deaths.
There is a reason that kratom is called “gas station heroin”: It has, at least until recently, been found in gas stations and convenience stores right next to bubble gum and candy bars.
This is a huge health hazard.
We don’t need a growing epidemic of another opioid that we cannot track properly, test for, or control.
We don’t need another potent drug that is freely mixed with other drugs and makes underlying psychiatric problems worse, rather than treating them.
Yet, this is exactly what we are faced with.
The notion of people using kratom to self-medicate or wean off of opioids –– with no doctors in the loop to measure doses or effectiveness –– is deeply disturbing to me as a physician.
But according to the FDA, “There are no prescription or over-the-counter drug products containing kratom or its known alkaloids that are legally on the market in the US. …Therefore, kratom is not lawfully marketed in the US as a drug product, a dietary supplement, or a food additive in conventional food.”
This means that the overall solution to the problem is federal regulation. Specifically: a federal ban with prescription-only use under DEA Schedule 1, designed for addictive substances without any proven medical use.
The DEA has previously considered this, but has never followed through.
It the meantime, the governor’s self-congratulation is premature. We cannot take a victory lap far in advance of meaningful progress.
While Newsom announces on Facebook that “I will not stand by while dangerous illegal products are sold in our communities,” the kratom industry continues to burgeon –– and apologists and addicts whine and protest and demand unfettered access to the drug.
Marc Siegel is a professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, Fox News Senior Medical Analyst, and author of the national bestseller The Miracles Among Us.
English (US)