I'm an army veteran and have been benefiting from natural Kratom since 2012. That includes when I got a degree from a UC, helped run a small business for 10 years, and trained county departments on how to handle veterans in crisis--and at no point was that same natural Kratom an issue.

7oh products and their users have virtually nothing in common with natural Kratom; they are a Frankenstein thing that needs to be banned, and an example of companies pushing the envelope until it becomes a tool of harm like we saw with 4LOCO drinks, or "synthetic weed", or bump stocks. NOT natural kratom products.

Thank you for your time, and please consider this message when you are making your decision.

Dear Members of the City Council,

I am writing to clarify an important scientific distinction between traditional whole-leaf kratom and the products now being sold as "7-hydroxymitragynine" (7-OH).

Whole-leaf kratom is the dried leaf of Mitragyna speciosa. Its primary alkaloid, mitragynine, is what produces kratom's effects. When consumed, the human body converts only a very small fraction of mitragynine into 7-OH, typically well under 1%, through normal liver metabolism. This process is slow and self-limiting.

By contrast, today's 7-OH products are not naturally occurring kratom preparations. They contain laboratory-isolated or chemically converted 7-hydroxymitragynine in concentrations far beyond what the body could ever produce from kratom leaf. At these levels, 7-OH behaves much more like a traditional opioid, with significantly higher risk.

Conflating these high-potency 7-OH products with the kratom plant itself leads to inaccurate risk assessments and poor public health policy. Regulating or restricting 7-OH does not require banning whole-leaf kratom, which has helped many adults avoid far more dangerous substances.

I urge the Council to consider this distinction when evaluating policy and enforcement decisions.

Here’s my testimony…

From 2008 to 2019, I lived in the grip of FDA-approved pain pills, benzos, and muscle relaxers prescribed for my degenerative disc disease. For 11 years, chronic pain management fueled my addiction. What started as a dependency slowly slid into a destructive cycle of misuse and despair.

In April 2019, I was dismissed from pain management after failing a required pill count. I was 11 pills short, and my usual drug dealers didn’t have the pink oxy 10s I needed. Cut off from prescriptions, I turned to the streets in desperation and eventually slipped into cocaine use while searching for another doctor.

Then, in June 2019, while suffering through cocaine withdrawal, I stumbled upon the documentary A Leaf of Faith. That single moment changed the course of my life. The very next day, I began my journey with whole-leaf Kratom, not synthetic 7OH, by walking into a smoke shop. The Kratom was in a glass case, locked up and i was carded when purchased.

Kratom quieted the relentless cravings, the constant voice whispering, one more pill, one more snort, one more escape. For the first time in over a decade, I felt peace. Kratom gave me the space and clarity to confront the deeper reasons behind my addiction and to rebuild my life from the ground up.

I have not returned to pain management in over six and a half years. Today, I am a thriving mother, a proud first-time grandmother, a functioning member of society, and a tax-paying citizen. Most importantly, I’m no longer a burden to my children. I’m an example of hope and healing.

I will forever be grateful that I found safe, lab-tested, whole-leaf Kratom. Now, I share my story, knowledge, and the science behind it to help others facing addiction, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.

Yours truly,

Misty Brown, A Kratom Advocate and Activist est. 2019