As major cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco combat a crush of new overdose deaths, America’s top public health agencies again have California in their crosshairs. Only this time, federal officials are warning of a threat more novel than fentanyl — one that’s already heralding the fourth wave of the nation’s opioid epidemic.
A pair of California-based companies, Hydroxie and Thang Botanicals, were among a handful of synthetic drug peddlers to receive letters last month from the Food and Drug Administration directing them to stop illegally marketing products containing concentrated semi-synthetic 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), a chemically manipulated opioid isolated from the kratom leaf that’s up to 22 times more potent than morphine.
Shortly thereafter, the agency announced another crackdown, with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary formally recommending 7-OH be classified as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act — alongside the likes of heroin, ecstasy, and LSD. The FDA action was solely targeted at concentrated 7-OH products and not at the natural kratom leaf from which it is derived. Natural kratom leaf is used by 23 million Americans and has been used safely for centuries.
Semi-synthetic 7-OH — also known as “7” — is a particularly pernicious form of Gas Station Heroin, an unregulated category of street drugs encompassing a range of foreign lab-made substances. In addition to isolated, highly concentrated derivatives such as “7” and its analogues such as “Pseudo,” other types of Gas Station Heroin include tianeptine, nitrous oxide, and intoxicating hemp products.
Last month was not the first time the FDA has weighed in on the “dangerous and growing health trend” of Gas Station Heroin. But the agency’s actions underscored California’s unique vulnerability to the burgeoning crisis and the sheer number of Golden State businesses stocking synthetic drugs on convenience store shelves.
It’s no secret that California leaders have long struggled to curb opioid addiction in urban areas and slow the rapid spread of fentanyl across the state. Accidental fentanyl deaths in Los Angeles County increased 1,652 percent between 2016 and 2022, climbing another 5 percent in 2023 before finally falling 37 percent in 2024 thanks to recent public health investments.
Meanwhile, San Francisco saw more than 600 people die from drug overdoses in 2024, with 451 (71 percent) of those fatalities attributed to fentanyl. Of the more than 350 accidental overdose deaths recorded so far in 2025, fentanyl has been responsible for 268 (75 percent).
For California and communities throughout America, illicit fentanyl marked the third wave of the U.S. opioid epidemic, following the scourge of prescription opioids and the subsequent explosion of street-level heroin. Now, Gas Station Heroin products like “7” are fueling the epidemic’s fourth surge, compounding a public health emergency that California has yet to solve.
In some ways, Gas Station Heroin poses an even more insidious threat than previous iterations of the opioid epidemic. Alarmingly, these products are sold alongside everyday bites and beverages, cleverly camouflaged as copycat snacks and supplements to evade regulatory scrutiny and confuse consumers. Often targeted at children, they are advertised in an assortment of flavors and sheathed in colorful packaging.
But don’t let the deceptive branding fool you: Gas Station Heroin is designed to mimic the effects of hard opioids, prescription drugs, and other scheduled narcotics. That’s why it’s time to get serious about protecting California’s kids, punishing the purveyors of Gas Station Heroin, and halting the proliferation of these harmful products.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s “STAND Against Emerging Opioids Act” would be a good first step toward achieving those goals. The bipartisan measure from the Santa Cruz-area congressman, reintroduced in May, seeks to crack down on tianeptine use by classifying the drug and its analogues as Schedule III substances under the Controlled Substances Act, requiring prescriptions for sale.
Closer to home, Assembly Member Jasmeet Bains introduced a bill in February, backed by law enforcement, to put an age restriction on the sale of kratom products, prohibit marketing that appeals to children, and limit the amount of 7-hydroxymitragynine to the levels found in dried kratom leaf — effectively banning “7” in the state of California.
Unfortunately, Bains’ bill stalled after the Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust (HART) — a trade association representing manufacturers of “7” products, including companies that received FDA warnings — began lobbying against the legislation in Sacramento. The group doled out more than $64,900 in political contributions to state lawmakers, all while advancing false narratives and phony science that revealed startling safety issues with the products they purported were safe.
HART’s efforts ultimately resulted in the bill being shelved until next year, meaning California consumers will have to wait for commonsense action to stamp out destructive synthetic products.
Until then, what we need going forward is targeted federal regulation that draws a firm line between Mother Nature and lab-made chemicals, combined with real enforcement of existing laws around the marketing and sale of unapproved new drugs. Only then can California quash the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux, a native San Franciscan, is an economist, author, and educator based in Washington, DC.
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