“7-OH Gave Me My Life Back – Don’t Let Them Take It Away”

At just 17 years old, my life was forever changed by an accident I didn’t cause. I spent 18 days in the ICU, over a month in the hospital, and many more months in a hospital bed at home. I had to relearn how to walk. The physical pain never left—and neither did the emotional scars.

I was eventually diagnosed with degenerative joint disease, PTSD, and major depressive disorder. Doctors told me I would always need prescription pain medication. They even warned me I’d eventually need a wheelchair again. For years, I was trapped in a brutal cycle of traditional opioids—pills that stole my identity, my peace, and my future. I became a stranger to the people I loved. I felt like I had no way out.

Then, I found kratom, and for the first time, I began to break free. It helped me get off prescription opioids—but the pain still followed me. I was functioning, but not living.

Kratom isn’t a perfect solution for everyone. For many people like me, it’s incredibly hard to take—it’s bitter, often causes nausea, and can be rough on the stomach. More importantly, it doesn’t always touch severe pain. I tried to push through, hoping it would be enough. But the truth was, I was still suffering.

Everything changed when I discovered 7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH).

With 7-OH, I didn’t just manage my pain—I got my life back. I could move without agony. I could think clearly. I had energy, hope, and ambition again. I started considering going back to school, something I’d once believed was out of reach forever. For the first time in years, I could imagine a future where I wasn’t defined by pain or medication.

7-OH didn’t just treat my pain. It gave me freedom—from depression, from anxiety, from fear. It allowed me to live fully, without the risk of fatal respiratory depression that haunted me with prescriptions. If I had a tough day, I could adjust without shame, fear, or red tape.

Now, that freedom is under threat. Lawmakers want to ban 7-OH—a lifeline for me and thousands of others. If they succeed, they’re not just banning a compound. They’re taking away hope, functionality, and freedom from people like me.

And let’s be honest—if 7-OH is taken away, people won’t just “go without.” Many, desperate for relief, will turn back to the streets. They’ll end up in the arms of fentanyl—the most deadly opioid epidemic our country has ever faced. If 7-OH is banned, fentanyl deaths will spike. We’ve seen it happen before. When safer alternatives are ripped away, people die.

This is more than policy. This is personal. This is life and death.

If you care about compassion, choice, and second chances—please stand with us. Oppose SB860, SB891, and SB183. Share my story. Contact your lawmakers. Help us protect the only safe, effective option many of us have left.

Don’t let them take away what gave us our lives back. Don’t trade our safety for silence.