Autism

That's valid. In some ways it's the opposite situation as k2 because the stuff you're getting in the shop is almost certainly safer than the street drug equivalent at this point in time.

Do keep in mind, though, that having printed ingredients on the package doesn't mean a whole lot. They're still pressed tablets which could contain anything. These types of producers are known for skirting regulations, even adding illicit substances as filler if it makes them a buck. It's easy for these types of products to be contaminated or adulterated, even by a third party. Production equipment can be stolen, packaging and designs can be stolen, copied or forged, etc. The stage is set for all sorts of shenanigans.

I made the parallel because 7-oh is under a higher level of scrutiny by the feds recently, and there is talk of placing it into schedule 1. My fear is that, if that does come to pass, kratom (in all its forms) will be banned as well, which will cause a great deal of harm on its own. That could then spur 7-oh producers/distributors to look for an "equivalent" (to them) product, which almost certainly will carry more harm potential.

7-oh can be extracted from Kratom, but it makes more sense financially to produce it synthetically, and these days almost all of it is synthetic. There's nothing inherently wrong with synthetic products on their own, but when they are banned it's far easier for the whole product category to start down a path which ends up causing far more harm than good, and this is exactly what happened with spice.

When synthetic cannabinoids were initially banned, the ban applied to specific compounds on the market. It did not just go away, chemists simply innovated new compounds. This cycle happened multiple times, and each time the new compounds drifted further away from the original product. They were less stable, more chemically complex iterations that came with more side effects and higher addiction potential.

Existing producers already had the necessary equipment, they just had to switch up their precursory inputs and/or manufacturing process, so they stayed in business, often cutting over to a completely new formula without changing the branding or packaging at all. Much of the harm that came from spice only happened because someone thought they were getting their usual product, were completely unaware it was actually something new, and took the usual dose.

It became cheaper than anything else, and you saw it for sale literally everywhere. So that's how, by 2016-2018ish, the US had a very visible public health issue on its hands, which wouldn't have happened if the feds just left things alone in the first place.

If 7-oh follows a similar path, that could be a much worse crisis. If we do end up banning 7-oh, the best case scenario would be a carve out for kratom (at least the powder and whole leaf forms.) Then, at least, existing users would have a safe off-ramp to transition to, instead of replacing their habit with something worse. I'm optimistic that this is what will happen if the ban comes to pass. The kratom industry has a powerful lobby now, and the American Kratom Association are good people who advocate for education, testing and proper labeling. They would actually be very pleased with a ban on synthetics that left the natural product alone. Kratom itself is just a plant medicine which has a massive net benefit, but it's reputation is harmed by its association with the other products which, for various reasons, do not have the same benefits vs. their risks.