Bottom line guys, I´ve been around Opioids for years. I´ve seen this 7OH stuff hit like a ton of bricks, a lot of the time this affects Kratom users who put faith in the substance as being as ¨safe¨ as Kratom. What we have here is very clearly an Opioid with a high potency and affinity for the MOR that is in a complete other league to Kratom. I would highly suggest everyone to do the mental gymnastics necessary to understand that 7OH products (some of which have tested positive for Fentany) and Kratom might as well be unrelated.
7OH can only be made in commercially viable quantities if synthesized either partially or completely. Many of these newer analogs are likely made from start to finish in a lab. There is practically zero quality control (hence, Fentanyl in the product) and these people are known, unscrupulous individuals. They saw gold in them their hills and started businesses specifically to victimize individuals based upon their established trust in Kratom. These people are no different than the Sacklers. I am saddened when I talk to more and more 50-60 year old individuals here on Bluelight who had been relatively stable, unable to obtain Opioids, using Kratom, many for years. The temptation of more and a perceived safety have led many of them practically to ruin.
This shit is extremely potent. If it is not being affected appropriately by Buprenorphine, what does that tell you? I would highly advise people to reconsider getting involved with this shit.
Again, I´ve been around for a while guys. I grew up with Oxycontin, saw that misery become more miserable with Heroin, then saw that misery multiplied by 10 when Fentanyl hit. Trust me when I tell you, this is a scenario that keeps me up at night these days:
Person is relatively stable on Kratom, yes addicted, but working and possibly supporting a family
Person is tempted by pain that he just wants to be a little bit better than it is
In what seems to typically take 2-3 weeks, they become heavily dependent; severe withdrawal, rapidly encroaching times between doses and surprise at the lack of efficacy when other Opioids are experimented with
7OH and its analogs get withdrawn from shelves and as they are no longer commercially viable, the only alternatives will be cold turkey, maintenance or Fentanyl
You can laugh if you want, but that is exactly how this shit goes. Just a guy trying to ¨manage his withdrawal from 7OH" who now finds a source of Opioids that´s not going to go dry anytime soon.
I think we need to discuss a protocol that works for people to step down off of this shit. We need input from people who have withdrawn successfully. We really are in the dark in many ways regarding this stuff. It could be worse than even I´m making it out to be. The rate at which it seems to ruin people is unsettling.
At any rate, this shit is not gonna be around for long. Once it´s gone... well, when they ¨got rid of Oxycontin¨ it´s not as if all those users went Cold Turkey over the long weekend then went back to work on Monday.
I think the first goal should be getting these folks back on Kratom. I think if we treat it as we would any other Opioid withdrawal protocol, using comfort medications and everything else at our disposal, we could get people through the worst of it. Once they are back on Kratom, however much they need, we can then reevaluate and figure out where to go from there.
