MIDLOTHIAN, Va. — family is everything For Chesterfield County dad Dean Francis. Inside his Midlothian home, portraits of his children line the walls, including photos of his 30-year-old son Cameron.
"Cameron was the energy booster in our family growing up," Francis said. "He was always so much fun, adventurous, playful, happy."
Cameron graduated high school in 2014 and went on to run cross country at Liberty University. His father describes him as incredibly disciplined and focused in his training.
At college, Cameron wasn't interested in partying or drinking, but his dad says he searched for what he thought was a healthy alternative to take the edge off.
"He found kratom online, and it said it was plant-based, an herbal supplement, and it can boost your mood, it can give you more energy," Francis explained. "And you don't get high from it, but a lot of people describe it as a social tonic."
Cameron thought he had the best of both worlds with the kratom he was ordering online back in 2017. He took it at parties, to help him with his studies and even to sleep, until one night back at home almost four years later.
"He comes into our room, and he's freaking out, feels like he's gonna die," Francis said. "That particular night, we rushed him to the hospital, and when the doctor came in and saw him, he said, what are you taking? And Cameron just sort of looked at him like, I'm not taking anything. The doctor could tell immediately, he was in a full state of withdrawal."
Francis says his son had no idea kratom could become addicting and interacted with opioid receptors in the brain.
After visiting another doctor who better understood kratom, Cameron realized his journey to stopping wouldn't be easy.
"He just said this is going to be the hardest thing you've ever done in your life trying to get off of this," Francis said.
After six months of unsuccessfully quitting kratom, the Francis family found The Coleman Institute in Richmond, a leading outpatient drug and alcohol detox program.
"They're giving him medication to get him over the worst part of the withdrawals, and the medication wasn't enough," Francis said. "And I watched him suffer for about 2 or 3 hours convulsing, and it was awful."
Kate Gibson is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at The Coleman Institute.
"For kratom products, we typically are detoxing around 5 days, which is very similar to fentanyl, but then also, it's actually longer than prescription opioids," Gibson said.
She notes 75% of their incoming calls for treatment are related to kratom and 7-OH, a concentrated and potent derivative of the kratom plant.
"Most of these products are marketed as health products to help with anxiety, pain, sleep," Gibson explained. "They are very cleverly designed to avoid any sort of indication that they could cause physiological dependence, which leads to withdrawal, which is very similar, if not exact, to the withdrawal people experience with other opioid drugs like fentanyl, heroin, methadone. So people cannot make these informed decisions when they use these products."
In Virginia, kratom and 7-OH are sold at many retail vape shops and convenience stores. Several kratom product labels don't all warn of the addiction they can cause.
The DEA has listed kratom as a "drug of concern." And just this January, the United States military banned the use of kratom and its active compounds, and so have seven states and the District of Columbia.
"Most of my colleagues don't even know what it is," said delegate Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg) said. "They're trying to find out what is kratom. What is it?"
There were several bills up for debate in the Virginia House this session that would ban 7-OH and create restrictions around kratom use.
Delegate Cole's HB360 passed in the House and is now being heard in a Senate subcommittee. The bill would require a standardized label on kratom products that says this is an addictive substance. They must be sold behind the counter, and users would have to be 21 and older.
"We're having the industry come to us saying, oh, we already do this, you don't need to do it," Cole said. "And typically, you can tell when something needs to be done, people say, well, we already do this, we don't need to do it. Well then you shouldn't have a problem with us putting it into law, right, if you're already doing it."
Lobbyists for the kratom industry argue it can help manage chronic pain, anxiety and opioid withdrawal. It's also often marketed for pain relief, energy, or mood support.
The FDA notes, kratom can come with some very serious side effects, including seizures, substance use disorder, and in rare cases, deaths have been associated with it.
Francis admits he has heard from some kratom users that it's been beneficial.
"There's some very good therapeutic value somewhere in that leaf that is coming from Southeast Asia," he said. "There's something good in it. It deserves more research, testing, and so forth. But I know this. It shouldn't be sold in a vape shop, or a convenience store, or a gas station. I'm 100% certain about that. People need to know in advance before they ever take that."
The Francis family wants people to understand the potential harm kratom and 7-OH can cause.
"It's not fair to not know, like, just be honest with people," Francis said. "Tell them, hey, this works like an opioid. And because of that, it could become highly addictive."
As for Cameron, he's finishing up another residential treatment program for kratom addiction and is sharing his story online to help others. The family created a website endkratomaddiction.org to help families understand more about the product.
While the future of kratom in the Commonwealth is in the hands of lawmakers, Cameron is focusing on his future as an aspiring musician. He plans to drop new original songs this year.
The Francis family hopes their story serves as a warning and shows just how easily this substance can change your life.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
📲: CONNECT WITH US
Blue Sky | Facebook | Instagram | X | Threads | TikTok | YouTube
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. To learn more about how we use AI in our newsroom, click here.
