Exxon in Doylestown picketed over kratom derivative

Doylestown resident Devin Refice has been sober for eight and a half years. The recovering addict who owns two sober living homes and a bakery that employs recovering addicts knows how dangerous substance abuse can be.

That’s why he’s sounding the alarm about 7-OH, which is a synthetic derivative of kratom. On October 20, he spoke to the Doylestown Borough Council, asking them to take steps to stop the sale of 7-OH at the Exxon on North Main Street and Old Dublin Road, as well as at the Smoke Shack on West State Street, which sells 7-OH in pill form.

On Monday, Refice and two others picketed the Exxon station. He said many gas stations and vape shops in the area sell 7-OH.

He said one of his employees at the Meadowlark Bakery & Café in Warminster was offered samples of the drug, which sells for $45 a box. He recalled the employee tried it and developed a $1,000-a-week habit. People take 7-OH, get high for an hour, then crave more, he said. And once they’re habituated, they need to take more of the pills to get the same high. 

“Like cocaine in the 80s, it’s ripping apart the suburbs,” said Refice. 

Senator Tracy Pennycuick (R-Montgomery) authored a bill to regulate the sale of kratom. She told The Independence that she plans to amend a ban on 7-OH to that bill, which is in committee.

“While natural kratom remains legal, highly concentrated forms of 7-OH pose a serious and unregulated public safety risk,” Pennycuick said. “These chemically altered products behave more like synthetic opioids than natural supplements and have been linked to addiction, overdoses, and even deaths. That’s why I will be introducing legislation to ban these dangerous lab-enhanced substances while still preserving access to natural kratom.”

The federal government may also regulate 7-OH, which stands for 7-hydroxymitragynine.

“Vape stores are popping up in every neighborhood in America, and many are selling addictive products like concentrated 7-OH. After the last wave of the opioid epidemic, we cannot get caught flat-footed again,” said Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H., in a press release. “7-OH is an opioid that can be more potent than morphine. We need regulation and public education to prevent another wave of the opioid epidemic.”

A clerk at the Exxon told The Independence that the manager, who she had called, was too busy to speak to a reporter. However, the clerk, who refused to give her name, said they ask for identification and don’t sell 7-OH to anyone under 21 years old. The product was nowhere in sight, although Refice had taken a picture of it there last week. While speaking with the clerk, two teenage boys came into the gas station store, and groups of teenagers stopped in while the protesters stood outside.

Neither a spokesperson for Exxon nor the manager of the Smock Shack responded to requests for comment.

Borough Council members said they would speak to their solicitor about what, if anything, they could do about 7-OH.

 “We’re not even allowed to have plastic bags in Doylestown,” said Refice.

Brenda Brolly, a mother and grandmother, was also protesting at the gas station. She said she lost a sibling to an overdose and belongs to Siblings Ending Addiction Stigma (SEAS), which helps struggling families. It’s harder for kids these days, she said, with “bullying on social media.”

“Reality is not good enough for them,” she said. “They can go into someplace like this and don’t know what they’re getting into.”

“A friend used kratom and had to go to rehab just to get off of it,” said Brolly. “I’ve seen too many kids who don’t get counseling for family issues and get desperate.” As for the shops selling 7-OH, “A lot of these places are popping up,” she said.

Geoffrey Lawrence, research director at the Reason Foundation, said, “7-OH is the active alkaloid from kratom, so as an extracted version it’s more potent. Morphine, for instance, is the alkaloid of opium, and cocaine is the alkaloid extracted from coca. However, aside from being more potent, it’s not clear that 7-OH is highly dangerous. 

“According to the FDA’s FAERS system, there are no reported deaths from 7-OH alone despite people having consumed an estimated 500 million doses,” he continued. “There have been two deaths of people who consumed 7-OH along with other substances. Polysubstance use is always inherently more dangerous. But even this is a pretty low figure. I think the issue is that people theorize 7-OH could be dangerous because it acts on the opioid receptors. Despite what some people claim, however, it is not an opioid — it’s just a partial opioid agonist like buprenorphine.”

But Refice is certain of the danger that 7-OH poses.

“It’s not fentanyl,” said Refice at the council meeting. “It’s not heroin. It’s literally a shiny box called Perks that I can buy right down the street from here…. It’s not the drug that’s going to take out the people in Kensington. It’s going to take out the kids here in Doylestown who have $45.”

Editor’s note: This article was updated to reflect that it was Refice’s employee who developed a $1,000-a-week habit.

Linda Stein is a Philadelphia-area journalist.