Common Gas Station Opioids Targeted By RFK Jr. In New Crackdown
on Jul 29, 2025
Recommendation Made By RFK Jr. To Restrict Popular 7-OH Opioids
“I spent 14 years as a heroin addict,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a Tuesday, July 29, press conference. “I have been 43 years in recovery.”
At 71, RFK Jr. is now working to Make America Healthy Again, and that effort was continued as HHS and the FDA announced they are recommending policies restricting 7-OH opioids, also known as 7-hydroxymitragynine.
These 7-OH opioid products, which are synthetically produced from the kratom plant, are widely sold at gas station convenient stores and vape shops across America.
“7-OH is increasingly recognized as having potential for abuse because of its ability to bind to opioid receptors,” the FDA stated in a July 29 press release.
Mentioning the rise of street drugs, as well as the more recent escalation of oxycodone and fentanyl abuse, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said, “We have a history of being asleep at the wheel. For the sake of our nation’s children, let’s not get caught flat-footed again.”
He added, “Public health is supposed to prevent disasters, not just clean them up when they’ve killed thousands and thousand of people.”
Recommended Policies On 7-OH Opioids
Looking to a disconnect between “the ivory towers” of the medical field, and “the streets,” Makary rhetorically asked at the July 29 press conference, “Have experts been to the vape stores? It affects what we see in the operating room.”
Continuing, he said, “I’ve been surprised going to these vape stores at what I’m seeing. First of all, roughly 85% of the vape products are illegal vape products … No cutesy, fruity flavored (gummies or vapes) designed to appeal to children … [are] legal or approved by the FDA.”
Regarding 7-OH opioids specifically, which are sometimes sold as beverages or in powder form as an additive to water, a question was asked of Makary by a member of the press: Does the government believe that kratom is safe to consume?
Responding, Makary stated, “First of all, we’re not prepared to say anything is 100% safe, especially when it has psychoactive properties, but what we’re saying is that our focus is on synthetic concentrated kratom.”
To address this, the FDA is “recommending a scheduling action to control certain [7-OH opioid] products under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).”
The Drug Enforcement Agency, which is led by Terry Cole, has the final authority on scheduling and is presently reviewing the recommendation to add these 7-OH opioid products to the CSA schedule.
Related: RFK Jr. Announces Ban On Artificial Food Dyes Nationwide
RFK Jr.’s History Of Addiction Informs HHS Policies
57 years ago, in 1968, RFK Jr.’s father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated. That year, RFK Jr. started taking heroin.
“In most societies, you have about 10% of the population that suffers from addiction,” RFK Jr. said at the July 29 press conference. He was once part of that percentage, and he spoke at length about how his past addiction came about.
“When there is availability, that can become a crisis,” RFK Jr. said. “For several years [after the infamous French Connection bust of heroin in 1968], there was $2 heroin.”
These drugs were sold in Harlem and throughout New York City.
Recalling that he had “iron willpower” in other aspects of his life, RFK Jr. recalled giving up candy for Lent when he was 13 and continuing to not eat candy until he went to college. However, when it came to heroin, he admitted, “This compulsion was absolutely impervious to my will.”
He added, “I became an addict because it was so available, but I still had to go to Harlem, or I had to go to the South Bronx, or I had to go to the Lower East Side. Now, you can go to any gas station.”
Describing the current drug scene in the United States, with gas stations and vape shops selling colorful Delta 8 and Delta 9 products, as well as 7-OH opioids, he said, “This is really a sinister, sinister industry.”
Looking to his own family, RFK Jr. noted his brother, David, died of addiction, and he went on to note, “I lost a niece during COVID … I lost another niece to injuries, who is now a quadriplegic, due to this disease.”
He also pointed to President Donald Trump’s family, which has also been marked by addiction by the passing of the president’s brother, Fred Trump Jr., who died of alcoholism.
Watch the full press conference, here:
