The November 4 elections ignited a flashing red light for Republicans. Counties that voted for President Trump in 2024 flipped blue just a year later. The results serve as a painful reminder that the Republican coalition is tenuous and fragile. One wrong policy move could fracture it.
Despite these cautionary indicators, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appear intent on reviving one of the biggest unforced errors of Trump’s first term: consumer prohibition under the guise of “public health.”
In 2019, then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar nearly torpedoed the Trump movement with his crusade against vape products. Allegedly, the intent was to “protect kids” from nicotine. The result was catastrophic fury from millions of adult vapers who had quit smoking tobacco thanks to flavored e-cigs. They flooded rallies, lit up social media, and screamed a crystal-clear warning that said, “I Vape, I Vote.” Within months, Trump had to walk back Azar’s mistake, saying later he “should never should have done that [expletive deleted] vaping thing.” It was a near disaster that needlessly alienated a critical base of freedom-minded voters.
Now, Makary and RFK Jr. are walking the same doomed path with 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH. This naturally derived compound from the kratom plant has become a lifeline for countless Americans struggling with chronic pain or trying to break free from opioid addiction. Introduced to the supplement market in 2023, 7-OH is affordable, accessible, and, unlike prescription drugs, doesn’t bankrupt people or hook them on fentanyl derivatives. For many veterans, working parents, and people in recovery, it’s the difference between functioning and falling apart.
When asked for data on youth harm or overdose statistics, Makary admitted “we don’t have good statistics on who has died from concentrated 7-OH,” then argued the time to ban is before deaths occur. So, what’s Makary’s logic in moving to ban it? Essentially, 7-OH has caused zero deaths alone, so let’s preemptively criminalize it? That’s fear-based policy.
While more than 500 Americans die every year from over-the-counter painkillers, national poison control reports zero documented deaths from 7-OH alone.. Yet, Makary and RFK Jr. want to crush an emerging harm-reduction industry before it has a chance to prove its benefits.
The real reason for their crusade may be more cynical. The kratom industry beat back a DEA ban in 2016 after massive public pushback, building a big business around leaf powder in the years since. Now, it faces competition from 7-OH cutting into its profits. The response from “Big Kratom” looks familiar: lean on Washington to kneecap the newcomer. Just like Big Tobacco quietly cheered on the 2019 vape restrictions, Big Kratom is lobbying Washington to eliminate market competition. This “health” crusade isn’t about consumer safety. It’s a turf war over who keeps control of the cash stream.
Once again, millions of Americans are paying attention and won’t be quiet about it. Many live in swing states that will decide control of Congress. These are voters President Trump can't afford to alienate. More than 52 million Americans live with chronic pain, and over 2 million battle opioid addiction. Their families, communities, and online networks form a massive segment of the electorate. If the GOP repeats the mistakes of 2019 and allows Makary and RFK Jr. to wage another moral panic over a lawful consumer product, it will drive these voters straight into voter apathy, or into the other column in tight races.
President Trump corrected Azar’s blunder in 2020. He should do the same now. Shut down the prohibitionists and protect consumer choice. Because if 7-OH goes the way of the vape bans, the President will watch his own health bureaucracy smoke his base in the midterms.
