State and county officials — including Santa Barbara County Public Health — have warned residents not to consume kratom products, which have been associated with addiction problems, overdoses and, in some rare cases, death.
State and county officials — including Santa Barbara County Public Health — have warned residents not to consume kratom products, which have been associated with addiction problems, overdoses and, in some rare cases, death. Credit: Evelyn Spence / Noozhawk photo

Two years ago, Santa Barbara resident Craig Abbey’s now 22-year-old son decided to buy kratom leaf tea.

He had some wrist pain, and he had heard that the tea, derived from a plant native to Southeast Asia, could help. (It is unproven that kratom products can treat pain, according to the California Department of Public Health.)

He bought some online at first, then re-upped at local smoke shops. 

During one of those trips, Abbey relayed to Noozhawk, a smoke shop employee told his son: “‘Well, if you like kratom tea, you might like these 7-OH pills.’”

What Abbey’s son didn’t know at the time was that kratom products — including a powerful concentrated kratom byproduct, 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) — have been linked to addiction problems, overdoses and, in rare cases, death, according to county and state officials.

It is illegal to sell or manufacture kratom products for consumption in California.

Abbey’s son “took the (7-OH) pills and very quickly got addicted to them,” Abbey said. “My wife and I still didn’t know anything about that at the time (…). We had no idea that you could become addicted to this.”

In October of last year, Abbey’s son “crashed out.” 

“He just couldn’t keep up with classes anymore, and he was starting to use a lot. He was realizing that he was addicted,” Abbey said. 

His son entered a rehabilitation program. (Noozhawk agreed not to name him for privacy reasons.) When Abbey spoke to Noozhawk earlier this year, his son was in the last week of that program. 

“He relapsed about three times,” Abbey said. “It was brutal.” 

Abbey’s son isn’t alone. 

Kratom products work on the brain’s opioid receptors. In low doses, they act as a stimulant; in high doses, they act as a sedative.

Both local and state officials have launched campaigns to warn residents about the “wide availability” of kratom products, which are not regulated by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

They can be found online or in local gas stations or smoke shops, and often are marketed toward young adults as inexpensive gummies or supplements. 

However, “it’s not a supplement. It’s a very potent drug,” said Dr. Henning Ansorg, Santa Barbara County’s public health officer.

Kratom products, derived from the same plant native to Southeast Asia, are often marketed as supplements or gummies. They have been linked to addiction problems, overdoses and sometimes death, according to county and state officials.
Kratom products, derived from a plant native to Southeast Asia, are often marketed as natural supplements or gummies. They have been linked to addiction problems, overdoses and sometimes death, according to county and state officials. Credit: Santa Barbara County Health Department photo

Kratom can be dangerous in conjunction with other drugs — such as alcohol or prescription pain medications — because the combination can cause severe respiratory depression.

“It will make toxicity much, much worse,” Ansorg said, adding that there are “significant risks” because the doses also vary. 

“The dose that you buy is completely unknown,” he added. “… (People) need to be very, very cautious of these products.” 

It’s difficult to know exactly how many people locally are buying and using it. Hospitals aren’t testing for kratom when treating overdoses or other drug-related issues, Ansorg said. 

The Santa Barbara Cottage Health residential treatment center has seen four patients in the past year who sought treatment primarily for kratom use.

Other patients in its addiction programs have reported using kratom, “though it is not the primary substance they are seeking treatment for,” Cottage spokeswoman Christina Cortez said. 

According to data from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Bureau — which conducts alcohol and drug tests when investigating a death — five people in Santa Barbara County during the past three years have had kratom mixed with other drugs or alcohol in their systems when they died.

Sheriff Bill Brown said that in two of those deaths, both in 2025, kratom “was a contributing factor.” 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, kratom “was implicated” in 846 fatal overdoses in 30 states in 2022. In California, kratom was linked to 242 deaths between 2020 and 2022; 27 of those were “blamed solely” on kratom.

The state announced last month that it had removed 3,300 kratom and 7-OH products from California businesses.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state “will not stand by while dangerous, illegal products are sold in our communities.”

For Abbey, he is bothered that “nobody seems to know how dangerous this stuff is.” 

“Here we have something that’s very strong and very available,” he said. “I really want to see access reduced.” 

— Noozhawk South County editor Evelyn Spence can be reached at espence@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.