CHARLESTON, W.Va (WCHS) -- Attorney Rusty Webb said kratom is a drug that's being hidden in plain sight.
"It's over the counter and it's at gas stations, it's at vape shops, it's at truck stops, it's readily available and it comes in a number of forms," Webb said.
Kratom is a plant grown in Southeast Asia. When used in low doses it can produce stimulant effects and in high doses it can produce sedative effects. It's available for anyone 21 and up to purchase in many different forms like gummies, liquid shots, tablets, and powder.
"I researched it, and it is a very bad drug. It's referred to as the gas station heroin and it's marketed as safe. It's marketed as a painkiller. They're also marketed as energy drinks. I know anecdotally that there was a high school football player who grabbed one on his way to practice and he had a heart attack after taking it. It's bad stuff," he said.
At the end of July, the Food and Drug Administration issued warnings about the supplement cracking down on a by-product of kratom called 7-OH. The FDA said that 7-OH needs to be considered a schedule one drug. A decision that the DEA would have to rule on.
"The thrust of the press conference by the DHS is they want to make this kratom a scheduled drug under the DEA, which means it could only be sold under a prescription," Webb said.
The debate is, is it a drug or an herbal supplement? Now legal action is being taken.
Webb is part of a group of law firms nationwide that are stepping up to demand a change.
"I, along with about a dozen law firms around the country are going to start suing these manufacturers, distributors, retailers for the addiction that they're causing for the false marketing and try to get them some compensation and help them get off these drugs," he said.
Eyewitness News spoke with a smoke shop owner in June who said he's been selling kratom for more than ten years. He said customers use it to get an energy boost.
"It's not really as addictive as the people like to think. They're using kratom as a pain relief. Those are the majority of the customers. They use it as a pain relief because they have a surgery or they don't want to use a banned medicine," Huntington smoke shop owner, Que Imari said.
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture issued a statement to Eyewitness News saying, in part, "facilities selling kratom and kratom products must be registered with the WVDS. Synthetic kratom products are not permitted. They will be confiscated and destroyed by the department if found in any retail facility."
Webb said there has to be something done before more people become addicted.
"It's also marketed to get people off of opioids, a way to transition them off opioid and it may do that in some cases, but in the vast majority of the cases, it is addicting people and they're getting very sick and very addicted. The detoxification process has been referred to me by a detox nurse as the nastiest thing she's ever seen," Webb said.
Kratom is banned in seven states and Washington D.C. Other states like Ohio have introduced legislation over the past few years to regulate it in some way.