Synthetic Kratom Compounds Found in Cat’s Claw Supplements
Health officials are warning consumers that a normally benign herbal supplement — cat’s claw — is being adulterated with illegal, highly potent synthetic kratom derivatives, a practice linked to a reported death and a growing number of poison control calls. In recent weeks, the Utah Poison Control Center has received multiple reports of severe overdose from people who had taken cat’s claw supplements but showed symptoms resembling opioid overdose, according to the Utah Poison Control Center.
An Unexpected Danger in a Benign Supplement
Cat’s claw, or Uncaria tomentosa, is a woody vine native to the Amazon and Central America that has long been used as a mild herbal supplement. It does not naturally contain psychoactive compounds — meaning the harm in these cases comes entirely from adulteration, not from the plant itself.
Investigators traced the problem to “Buzzers” brand Cat’s Claw tablets, and potentially “Homiez” brand products, sold in smoke shops and online. Testing found the products had been adulterated with synthetic kratom derivatives: mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), and the related compounds MGM-15 and MGM-16.
“The Utah Poison Control Center is alerting the public about potentially dangerous products sold in smoke shops or online that may lead to life-threatening opioid overdose, dependence, or withdrawal,” the agency said in a July 22 alert.
The poison center described the derivatives as “illegal opioid drugs that are more potent than morphine,” noting that product labels were misleading and “do not include these drugs as ingredients.” In fact, some products claimed to contain no kratom or 7-OH at all.
A Death and a Widening Crackdown
On July 30, 2026, the Utah Department of Agriculture & Food and the poison control center announced that investigations were ongoing into “a recent death and several severe health incidents associated with Buzzers-brand Cat’s Claw tablets found to contain illegal kratom alkaloids,” according to the joint release.
Officials have released limited details about the death. “This particular one was not labeled as kratom at all. It was labeled as a totally different product. It was only discovered because of the incident and poison control submitted the samples to us,” Leon Page, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Agriculture & Food, told the Deseret News.
The tested products contained mitragynine pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15, both Schedule I drugs under Utah law, and the substances were found in multiple flavors. The agencies warned consumers not to buy or consume Buzzers Cat’s Claw tablets and to safely destroy any existing product, while advising retailers to immediately pull the products from shelves.
The Problem Spreads Beyond Utah
The issue is not confined to a single state. The California Department of Public Health has warned retailers and the public about the dangers of kratom-derived products and 7-OH, noting in a January 16 advisory that such products “have been recently linked to six overdose deaths in Los Angeles County.” CDPH said it has seized more than $5 million worth of kratom and 7-OH products.
California’s warning emphasized that these products, often sold in smoke shops and gas stations under labels touting “plant alkaloids,” have not been tested for safety, consistency, effectiveness, or accurate labeling — and are not approved for sale by the FDA. When combined with prescription medications, alcohol, or street drugs, CDPH said, kratom and 7-OH can cause severe respiratory depression and death.
A Federal and Legislative Response
At the federal level, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration moved in July 2026 to temporarily place 7-OH above a specified threshold, along with mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16, into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, according to an ISSUP summary of the action. The notices were set for Federal Register publication, with temporary scheduling orders expected to take effect roughly 30 days later.
Importantly, regulators have drawn a careful distinction between traditional botanical kratom leaf, which contains only trace amounts of naturally occurring 7-OH, and the enhanced, concentrated, or synthetic products at the center of the crackdown. The federal action does not target ordinary kratom leaf below the specified threshold.
In Utah, the legislature banned kratom products other than pure-leaf products during its 2026 session, giving manufacturers one year to comply. But that has not ended the debate. State Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, told FOX 13 he now intends to pursue a total ban on kratom.
“I do have a bill file open again that would ban pure-leaf kratom entirely,” McKell said. “If this is an industry that can’t follow the rules, they shouldn’t be in our state.”
The American Kratom Association, which advocates for regulated rather than banned kratom, pushed back. “We advocate for strict regulations. We had a regulation bill that Senator McKell rejected. It had teeth in terms of enforcement to get the bad products off the market,” Mac Haddow, a senior fellow on public policy for the group, told FOX 13.
What It Means for Consumers
The core danger in this case is not a supplement that is inherently dangerous, but a supply-chain integrity problem: products deliberately mislabeled and adulterated with illegal, potent synthetic opioids. Because these compounds can be far more potent than morphine, the poison center recommends administering naloxone in suspected overdoses involving the products and advises consumers to avoid Kava or Cat’s Claw products purchased at smoke shops.
What to Watch
Several questions remain open. Authorities have disclosed few details about the death, and product testing and investigations are described as ongoing. Meanwhile, Utah’s near-total kratom ban faces a lawsuit led by manufacturer Botanic Tonics, which has been put on hold for settlement talks. As regulators at the state and federal levels continue to act, the central challenge remains distinguishing a traditional botanical product from the synthetic opioid compounds now appearing in its place.