7oH Shots Aren’t Kratom. They’re a Nightmare in a Bottle.

By Dave, President of Bagus Botanicals

For the last two years I’ve been out on the road delivering our kratom to shops across the U.S. I’ve loaded boxes through back doors, chatted with shop owners about strains and sourcing, and tried to represent Bagus Botanicals as more than just a product on the shelf.

And somewhere along the way, I started seeing something that made my stomach drop. Little red bottles lined up behind glass, blister packs tucked by the register, labels screaming “extra strength” or “kratom shot.” Before anyone even cracked one open, I picked one up, flipped it over, and read the back.

That’s when I saw it. 7-hydroxymitragynine. The numbers were off the charts. Potency levels that didn’t make sense. Potency levels that had no connection to the leaf I’d been working with for years.

I remember thinking, this isn’t kratom. This is a nightmare in a bottle.

From that day on, every time I dropped off our product, I told shop owners the same thing: don’t sell this stuff. It’s not natural. It’s not kratom. It’s going to hurt people.

Kratom Powder vs. 7oH Shots

The comparison isn’t even close:

With kratom powder, your body has built-in limits. If you try to push past them, you’ll get nauseous or throw up. The other alkaloids act like a safety net that keeps things in check.

7oH rips that safety net away. It isolates one compound, concentrates it, and slams it into your system at a level no one could ever reach with raw leaf. That’s not how kratom works. That’s not how it’s been used for hundreds of years in Indonesia. That’s chemistry built to overwhelm, not balance.

Shops That Listened, and Shops That Didn’t

Not every owner wanted to hear it. Some shrugged me off. Some told me 7oH was their best seller. Some even cut ties with us because I kept bringing it up.

But a few did listen. And after the 7oH epidemic started spreading, some of those same owners circled back to me. They said, “I’m glad I stayed out of it. I’m glad I didn’t go down that road.”

That stuck with me. Maybe speaking up spared a few people from going through hell. Maybe we actually saved some lives.

What I Saw Outside the Shops

The difference between kratom users and 7oH users was impossible to ignore. Outside the shops that sell 7oH shots, I saw people slumped on the sidewalk. Shaky hands. Blank stares. You could tell they were caught up in something they thought was kratom but wasn’t.

Then you meet people using natural kratom powder. They’re clear, alert, present. They’re not chasing a spike. They’re using a plant the way it’s meant to be used.

That contrast haunted me. Two completely different realities, separated by whether someone was sold a leaf or a lie.

The Drug Dealer Playbook

The ugliest moment came when a shop owner tried to hand me a free sample of 7oH tablets. He admitted the reps told him to do it. “First one’s free. They’ll come back for more.”

That’s not a wellness product. That’s not plant medicine. That’s the drug dealer playbook dressed up with flashy labels and slick marketing. And it’s being passed off as kratom.

Why We Refuse

Bagus Botanicals has one rule. We only sell natural kratom, straight from the tree. The same way it’s been used in Indonesia for centuries. No extracts. No synthetics. No lab-grown shortcuts.

Because when you tamper with nature, when you strip out one compound and jack it up, you’re not offering kratom anymore. You’re offering a trap.

Final Word

These last two years have been heavy. I’ve lost wholesale accounts for speaking my mind. I’ve watched people get hooked on 7oH shots and tablets. I’ve seen shop owners choose money over integrity.

But I’ve also had a few come back to thank me for warning them. And I’ve seen the people who stick with natural kratom — living proof that the leaf, in its raw form, is all it needs to be.

So here’s the truth, one more time. 7oH is not kratom. It’s up to 60 times stronger than a teaspoon of natural kratom powder. It skips the natural safeguards your body has. It was never meant to be in you at that potency.

We don’t sell it. We don’t support it. And we never will.