You might want to leaf this drug alone.
A new study found that calls to the nation’s poison centers about a natural supplement marketed as an energy booster, mood lifter and pain reliever have soared more than 1,200% over the past decade.
Hospitalizations, and even some deaths, have climbed in tandem, leaving health experts sounding the alarm about a drug that’s widely available in vape shops, gas stations and online.
“The data reflects a concerning trend,” Dr. Chris Holstege, a researcher and director of the University of Virginia Health System’s Blue Ridge Poison Center, said in a press release.
“This trend found in the national data is also occurring in our local clinical practice, with more patients presenting to UVA Health following serious complications associated with kratom products.”
Kratom, an herbal substance made from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia, has grown increasingly popular in the US, where it’s legal at the federal level. The drug is typically sold as dried powders, capsules or concentrated liquids.
Kratom’s leaves contain two psychoactive compounds, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), which bind to the same brain receptors as prescription opioids like codeine and morphine.
Its effects vary dramatically depending on how much you take.
“Kratom affects the brain like a stimulant at low doses — boosting energy, focus and mood,” Dr. Joseph Volpicelli, a clinical adviser for Oar Health, previously told The Post. “Similar to a sedative at higher doses, it also provides pain relief and euphoria.”
Many users turn to kratom to self-treat chronic pain, anxiety or depression, and some even use it to manage withdrawal from opioids.
But the plant is far from harmless. It has been linked to a wide range of negative health effects, from mild symptoms to life-threatening complications, and can be addictive.
The risks are especially high with products engineered to be far more potent than natural leaves, often containing synthetic 7-OH, which greatly increases the chance of abuse and dependency.
Intrigued by kratom’s growing use and potency, researchers at UVA Health analyzed poison center calls and found more than 14,400 reported exposures between 2015 and 2025.
Last year set a record with 3,434 reports, up from just 258 ten years prior.
Most of the cases involved men in their 20s and 30s, though reports among people aged 40 to 59 also jumped, suggesting the plant is reaching a wider audience.
Hospitalizations linked solely to kratom climbed even more sharply, rising from 43 in 2015 to 538 in 2025 — an increase of more than 1,150%.
Kratom can cause a range of side effects, including nausea, vomiting, constipation, drowsiness, dry mouth, itching, loss of appetite, and muscle pain, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
More serious complications have been reported with heavy or chronic use, or when kratom is mixed with other substances like illegal drugs or antidepressants.
These can include organ damage, high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, psychosis, respiratory issues, seizures, muscle breakdown, substance use disorder and withdrawal symptoms.
Contamination is another worry. Kratom products are unregulated, meaning there’s no guarantee of what’s inside. Some have tested positive for toxic metals or harmful bacteria such as Salmonella.
When used alongside other substances, the researchers found that hospitalizations soared nearly 1,300% over the decade, from 40 to 549. In 2025 alone, 60% of these multi-substance cases led to serious medical outcomes, and half required hospitalization.
The human toll is clear: Between 2015 and 2025, at least 233 deaths involved kratom, with 184 of those cases linked to multiple substances.
“We are experiencing a marked increase in kratom associated products being sold in the US market,” Holstege said.
“We want the public to be aware that these products contain chemicals of varying concentrations such as mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine that have complex pharmacological actions and can cause drug interactions and adverse consequences in humans.”
Already in the first few months of 2026, deaths linked to kratom have continued to mount.
In January, the 22-year-old daughter of former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Austin Beutner died after consuming a mix of prescription drugs and kratom.
“My family has experienced the unimaginable loss of our beloved daughter Emily,” he wrote on X. “She was a magical person, the light of our lives. We are still in mourning.”
Looking to curb the risks of kratom, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last year that he would push for a federal crackdown on 7-OH products.
The FDA wants 7-OH classified as Schedule I — the same category as heroin and LSD — reserved for drugs with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.
“7-OH is an opioid that can be more potent than morphine,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a July statement. “After the last wave of the opioid epidemic, we cannot get caught flat-footed again.”
Even the American Kratom Association, long a defender of the plant, supports the crackdown on chemically altered 7-OH products.
“These 7-OH products are not kratom,” Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy at the organization, said in a statement in July. “They are chemically altered substances with potent opioid-like effects that pose an imminent threat to consumers.
