Show Notes
7-OH is one of the most talked-about drugs in the country right now — a concentrated kratom derivative sold legally at smoke shops and gas stations, marketed as a natural supplement. Bari Leigh is here to tell you what it actually did to her.
Bari's story starts long before 7-OH. A gifted athlete and touring singer-songwriter from a family that looked, for a while, like the American dream, she survived a childhood shattered by her father's near-fatal accident and a series of profound traumas that she carries with hard-won honesty. Pain — physical and emotional, compounded by real medical conditions and surgeries — became the thread that led her to opioids: Percocet, OxyContin, and years of a dependence she fought through two pregnancies.
When she finally got off the pills, she found what she thought was a harmless, natural alternative on a smoke shop shelf. Kratom became 7-OH, and within six months she describes being, in her own words, a shell of herself — nodding off like she was on heroin, going through brutal withdrawals every morning, hiding it from her husband and kids, and watching her personality disappear. It's a powerful, first-hand look at a substance most people still don't understand.
Now sober since January 2026, Bari is speaking out to warn others about 7-OH and to show that recovery is possible even after the hardest things imaginable. If you or someone you love is using kratom or 7-OH and telling yourself it's fine because it's legal, this is the episode to hear.
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