Table of Contents
Key Points
- Kanna is genuinely psychoactive. Kanna, traditionally known as Sceletium tortuosum and now also classified as Mesembryanthemum tortuosum, contains mesembrine-type alkaloids that affect serotonin signaling and other neurological pathways.
- Kanna is not kratom and is not an opioid. Its pharmacology is substantially different from kratom, concentrated 7-OH, MGM-15, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, and other opioid-active substances.
- Kanna may produce noticeable mood-altering effects. Traditional use and scientific literature describe relaxation, mood elevation, social effects, euphoria, and intoxication.
- Claims that kanna treats anxiety are ahead of the evidence. Early studies have generated interest, but a 2023 meta-analysis could not establish a significant anxiety benefit, and a 2026 scientific review found mixed evidence overall.
- Kanna dependence and withdrawal are not well established. Available human research does not demonstrate the type of clearly defined physical dependence seen with opioids or kratom, but research on heavy or recreational use of concentrated modern products is extremely limited.
- Kanna can affect serotonin signaling. Because mesembrine interacts with the serotonin transporter, people taking antidepressants or other serotonergic drugs should not assume kanna is automatically safe to combine with their medication.
- Tennessee’s kratom ban makes the broader alternative-product market more important to watch. Kratom was prohibited statewide beginning July 1, 2026, but demand for products marketed for mood, relaxation, energy, pain relief, or euphoria has not disappeared.
- How Brooks Helps: Brooks Healing Center helps people whose use of kratom, opioids, emerging substances, or other psychoactive products has become difficult to control through individualized medical detox, residential treatment, Medication-Assisted Treatment when appropriate, PHP, and continued recovery support.
Kratom disappearing from Tennessee store shelves did not eliminate the demand for products marketed for relaxation, energy, euphoria, mood enhancement, pain relief, or an altered state. Instead, the rapidly changing marketplace makes it increasingly important to understand the psychoactive botanicals, extracts, tablets, drinks, and other products consumers may encounter next.
Tennessee prohibited the possession, manufacture, and sale of kratom beginning July 1, 2026. At the same time, public-health officials have been dealing with an evolving market that includes concentrated 7-OH products, newer compounds such as MGM-15 and MGM-16, and products marketed under apparently unrelated botanical names. Brooks recently covered one of the clearest examples in our investigation of products marketed as Cat’s Claw that were found to contain opioid-active compounds.
Kanna presents a different issue. Authentic Cat’s Claw is not expected to produce opioid-like intoxication, while authentic kanna is psychoactive on its own. That distinction makes kanna worth understanding as people encounter an expanding selection of botanical gummies, extracts, capsules, tinctures, beverages, and other products marketed for mood and social effects.
There is not enough evidence to claim that kanna has become Tennessee’s replacement for kratom or 7-OH. What can be said is that kanna fits into a much larger conversation about what happens when consumers looking for psychoactive effects move from one readily available substance to another.
Kanna at a Glance
| Question | What We Know |
|---|---|
| What is kanna? | A psychoactive South African botanical traditionally associated with Sceletium tortuosum |
| Main active compounds | Mesembrine-type alkaloids including mesembrine and mesembrenone |
| Is kanna psychoactive? | Yes |
| Can kanna cause euphoria? | Euphoric and intoxicating effects have been described in traditional and scientific literature |
| Is kanna an opioid? | No |
| Is kanna the same as kratom? | No |
| Does kanna affect serotonin? | Yes. Mesembrine-type alkaloids interact with serotonin transporter activity |
| Is kanna proven to treat anxiety? | No. Human research remains limited and results are mixed |
| Can kanna cause physical dependence? | A defined physical-dependence syndrome has not been established |
| Can kanna cause withdrawal? | A consistent clinical withdrawal syndrome has not been established |
| Can kanna interact with medications? | Potentially, especially medications affecting serotonin |
| Is kanna relevant to people in recovery? | Potentially, particularly when it is being used specifically for intoxication or as a substitute for another psychoactive substance |
What Is Kanna?
Kanna is the common name for a psychoactive succulent native to southern Africa. Much of the scientific literature refers to the plant as Sceletium tortuosum, although the name Mesembryanthemum tortuosum is increasingly used in botanical classification.
Kanna has a long history of traditional use among Indigenous communities of southern Africa. Traditional preparations included dried, fermented, chewed, smoked, or otherwise prepared plant material, sometimes referred to as kougoed. Historical uses have included mood elevation, relaxation, appetite and thirst suppression, sleep, discomfort, anxiety, and intoxicating or euphoric effects.
This matters because kanna is sometimes marketed in the United States in the same broad language used for ordinary supplements: natural mood support, relaxation, stress support, social wellness, or botanical energy. Those descriptions can obscure an important fact. Kanna contains pharmacologically active chemicals capable of producing genuine neurological and psychoactive effects.
That does not make kanna equivalent to an opioid, stimulant, cannabis product, or psychedelic. It does mean it should be understood based on what its active compounds actually do rather than simply being classified as “natural.”
What Is Mesembrine?
One of the most important naturally occurring compounds in kanna is mesembrine. Researchers have identified numerous alkaloids in Sceletium, with mesembrine-type alkaloids receiving the greatest scientific attention. Other significant compounds include mesembrenone and mesembrenol.
Laboratory research has found that standardized Sceletium tortuosum extract inhibits the serotonin transporter, often abbreviated SERT, as well as phosphodiesterase-4, or PDE4. Mesembrine itself demonstrated particularly strong activity at the serotonin transporter, while mesembrenone demonstrated activity involving both serotonin transport and PDE4.
This pharmacology helps explain why researchers have been interested in kanna’s possible effects on mood, anxiety, cognition, stress response, and emotional processing. It also makes clear why kanna should not be treated as an inert herbal product simply because it comes from a plant.
Does Kanna Get You High?
Kanna can produce psychoactive effects, although describing the experience only as a “high” oversimplifies what different preparations and amounts may do. Scientific reviews discussing traditional kanna use have described mood elevation, euphoria, relaxation, and intoxication among its reported effects.
Kanna is not expected to feel identical to opioids, alcohol, cannabis, stimulants, or kratom because it does not share the same primary pharmacology. Modern products may nevertheless be deliberately marketed to people seeking a noticeable change in mood or consciousness.
Common marketing descriptions include terms such as euphoric botanical, mood enhancer, social lubricant, natural empathogen, stress supplement, nootropic, relaxation aid, and natural antidepressant. These terms should not be confused with established medical indications. A product producing a psychoactive effect does not mean that effect has been demonstrated to safely or effectively treat a psychiatric disorder.
That distinction becomes especially important when people begin self-treating depression, anxiety, trauma symptoms, or substance withdrawal with products purchased online or from smoke and vape shops rather than receiving an appropriate clinical evaluation.
Is Kanna Really “Nature’s MDMA”?
Kanna is sometimes described online as “nature’s MDMA” because some users report elevated mood, greater sociability, emotional warmth, or euphoric effects. That comparison is catchy, but it can also be misleading because kanna and MDMA are different substances with substantially different pharmacology.
Kanna’s mesembrine-type alkaloids influence serotonin-related mechanisms, but sharing some relationship with serotonin does not turn kanna into a botanical version of MDMA. The phrase is better understood as internet or marketing language than a recognized medical classification.
Comparisons like these can create another problem: they may encourage people to use increasingly concentrated extracts in an attempt to reproduce the effects associated with the better-known drug. Modern high-potency extracts should not automatically be assumed to have the same safety profile as the traditional preparations described in ethnobotanical literature or the standardized low-dose extracts used in small clinical trials.
Does Kanna Really Treat Anxiety?
Kanna has received considerable attention as a possible treatment for anxiety and stress, but the evidence is much less definitive than product marketing may suggest. Small human studies involving standardized extracts have produced findings that generated legitimate scientific interest, including changes in certain laboratory measures of anxiety, stress response, cognition, and emotional processing.
When researchers combined the available randomized anxiety studies in a 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis, however, they found no clinically significant difference in anxiety between Sceletium tortuosum and control groups. The analysis included only four studies and 117 participants, illustrating just how small the human evidence base remains.
A more recent 2026 scientific review reached a similarly cautious conclusion. Researchers described the animal and human evidence involving Mesembryanthemum tortuosum, kanna alkaloids, and the standardized extract Zembrin as mixed. Some studies showed potentially beneficial outcomes, but the literature was limited by small sample sizes, inconsistent findings, and studies involving populations that may not adequately represent people with diagnosed anxiety or depressive disorders.
The most accurate conclusion is therefore not that kanna treats anxiety. Kanna contains psychoactive compounds with biological mechanisms that have generated research interest in mood, anxiety, cognition, and stress, but its effectiveness as a clinical treatment has not been established.
People experiencing ongoing anxiety or another mental health condition should not replace prescribed medications or professional care with kanna based solely on supplement marketing.
Kanna vs. Kratom
Kanna and kratom can both be described as psychoactive botanicals, but chemically and pharmacologically they are very different substances. Understanding that distinction is particularly important in Tennessee now that possession, manufacture, and sale of kratom are prohibited statewide.
| Feature | Kanna | Kratom |
|---|---|---|
| Plant | Sceletium/Mesembryanthemum tortuosum | Mitragyna speciosa |
| Traditional region | Southern Africa | Southeast Asia |
| Important compounds | Mesembrine-type alkaloids | Mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine |
| Major known activity | Serotonin transporter and PDE4 activity | Significant opioid-receptor activity |
| Opioid-like? | No | Yes |
| Psychoactive? | Yes | Yes |
| Physical dependence established? | Not clearly established | Yes |
| Withdrawal established? | Not clearly established | Yes |
| Tennessee status in 2026 | Not the substance targeted by Tennessee’s kratom prohibition | Possession, manufacture, and sale prohibited beginning July 1, 2026 |
People looking for more information about kratom itself can read Brooks’ complete guide to kratom addiction and treatment. For people already experiencing physical dependence on concentrated products, our guide to 7-OH withdrawal symptoms and duration explains why concentrated 7-hydroxymitragynine can produce a substantially different withdrawal picture than a serotonergic botanical such as kanna.
Could Kanna Replace Kratom or 7-OH?
Pharmacologically, kanna is not a direct substitute for kratom or 7-OH. Kratom’s major alkaloids interact with opioid receptors, while concentrated 7-OH products can produce particularly strong opioid-like effects. Kanna operates through substantially different mechanisms involving mesembrine-type alkaloids and serotonin-related activity.
Someone physically dependent on 7-OH or kratom therefore should not expect kanna to function as an evidence-based treatment for withdrawal. There is currently no established clinical evidence supporting kanna as a treatment for kratom, 7-OH, or opioid withdrawal.
The broader market question is different. When access to a psychoactive substance changes, consumers may begin searching for products marketed as alternatives for mood, energy, relaxation, pain, sleep, or euphoria. Brooks discussed this issue in our article about what could remain in the “legal high” market as regulators target 7-OH.
The next product to gain attention does not necessarily have to recreate kratom’s chemistry. It only has to appeal to consumers who are still looking for an accessible way to alter how they feel.
That is where kanna becomes particularly relevant.
Kanna Is Different From the Cat’s Claw Problem
The recent Cat’s Claw story provides an important comparison because it represents almost the opposite situation. Genuine Cat’s Claw usually refers to Uncaria tomentosa or a related plant and is not expected to produce opioid-like intoxication. The 2026 concern emerged because products marketed under Cat’s Claw branding were found to contain potent opioid-active compounds that were not ordinary Cat’s Claw.
Brooks covers that issue in detail in Cat’s Claw or 7-OH in Disguise?, including the discovery of mitragynine pseudoindoxyl and MGM-15 in products marketed under botanical labeling.
Authentic kanna is different because kanna itself is psychoactive. A consumer can therefore experience noticeable mood-altering or euphoric effects from genuine kanna without that effect automatically proving the product contains an undisclosed opioid or synthetic drug.
That does not guarantee that every kanna product contains exactly what its label claims. It simply means that psychoactivity alone is not evidence that a kanna product is fake.
Consumers still have to consider a second question: whether a particular commercial extract, gummy, shot, tablet, or blend actually contains the ingredients and concentrations represented on its packaging.
Kanna vs. Kava
Kanna and kava are also frequently grouped together because both are botanicals marketed for relaxation, mood, and social use. They are not the same plant and do not work through the same mechanisms.
Kava comes from Piper methysticum and contains compounds known as kavalactones. Kanna comes from Sceletium tortuosum or Mesembryanthemum tortuosum and contains mesembrine-type alkaloids.
Brooks has a more detailed breakdown of kava vs. kratom and their different effects. The distinction matters because words such as natural, botanical, plant-based, calming, and euphoric can make completely different substances sound interchangeable when their actual pharmacology and risks may be very different.
Commercial beverages can further blur those lines. Products such as Feel Free have combined kava and kratom under wellness-style branding, demonstrating why consumers should pay attention to specific active ingredients rather than relying on the overall image or category used to market a product.
Kanna and the Broader Botanical Market
The modern botanical market increasingly mixes traditional plants with concentrated extracts, functional beverages, gummies, proprietary blends, tablets, and other formulations designed for convenience and stronger effects. This can create a significant disconnect between what researchers studied and what consumers actually purchase.
For example, a clinical study evaluating a standardized amount of a particular Sceletium extract cannot automatically establish the safety of every high-potency extract, gummy, vape product, liquid shot, or multi-ingredient blend sold under the word “kanna.”
Traditional use does not resolve that problem either. A plant that has been chewed or fermented for generations does not necessarily have the same risk profile when its active alkaloids are concentrated and delivered in a radically different formulation.
This same lesson has appeared repeatedly throughout the modern kratom market. Traditional leaf kratom, enhanced extracts, 7-OH tablets, 7-OH vapes, and newer substances such as MGM-15 may all share some connection to kratom chemistry, but that does not make their potency or risk interchangeable.
The same principle should be applied whenever concentrated kanna products are compared with traditional kanna use.
Is Kanna Addictive?
The current evidence does not establish kanna as producing the same pattern of physical dependence and withdrawal associated with opioids, kratom, or concentrated 7-OH. Small human studies using standardized kanna extracts have generally focused on tolerability, cognition, stress, mood, or anxiety rather than addiction, and researchers have not defined a consistent physical withdrawal syndrome.
That is reassuring to a degree, but it is not the same as proving that heavy recreational use of modern concentrated products cannot become problematic. Much of the human research has involved small groups of healthy volunteers using carefully standardized extracts for limited periods.
That bears little resemblance to someone repeatedly taking high-potency extracts specifically to feel euphoric, stacking kanna with other psychoactive substances, or increasing the amount used as tolerance to the desired subjective effect develops.
Problematic use could involve increasing amounts or concentrations, repeatedly using kanna to change uncomfortable emotions, feeling unable to socialize without it, hiding use from family members, spending excessive money on products, combining kanna with other substances, or continuing to use despite clear consequences.
A person does not need to experience severe physical withdrawal before their relationship with a psychoactive substance deserves attention.
Can Kanna Cause Withdrawal?
A consistent clinical kanna withdrawal syndrome has not been established in the scientific literature. That is substantially different from kratom and 7-OH withdrawal, where physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms are much better documented.
However, the absence of an established withdrawal syndrome should be interpreted carefully. It may reflect a genuinely lower risk of physical dependence, but it also reflects the relatively small amount of research involving frequent recreational use of high-concentration kanna products.
People who experience unexpected symptoms when stopping any regularly used psychoactive product should tell a healthcare professional what they have been taking, how much they use, how often they use it, and whether other substances or medications are involved.
Can Someone Become Psychologically Dependent on Kanna?
A person can develop a problematic behavioral relationship with a psychoactive substance even when severe physical withdrawal is absent. That issue may be particularly relevant when someone begins using kanna specifically to cope with anxiety, discomfort, loneliness, boredom, stress, social situations, or cravings for another substance.
For someone with a history of substance use disorder, the fact that a product is plant-based, sold without a prescription, or marketed as a supplement does not necessarily answer whether its use supports that person’s recovery.
A useful question may be less, “Is kanna technically addictive?” and more, “What role is this substance beginning to play in my life?”
If someone repeatedly needs kanna to feel okay, escape difficult emotions, socialize, experience pleasure, recreate intoxication, or avoid returning to another drug, the overall pattern deserves attention regardless of whether scientists ultimately identify a strong physical withdrawal syndrome.
Can Kanna Interact With Antidepressants?
Medication interactions are one of the more important unanswered safety issues surrounding kanna. Laboratory research demonstrates that kanna extracts and mesembrine affect the serotonin transporter, which provides a pharmacological reason for caution when kanna is combined with medications or other substances that also significantly influence serotonin.
Potentially relevant medication categories include SSRIs, SNRIs, MAO inhibitors, and other psychiatric medications with serotonergic effects. Direct human interaction studies are limited, so it is difficult to assign a precise level of risk to every possible combination.
That uncertainty should not be interpreted as evidence that combinations have been proven safe. People taking antidepressants or other psychiatric medications should talk with the clinician managing those medications before adding kanna or changing prescribed treatment.
People should also avoid abruptly discontinuing antidepressants in order to take a supplement. Medication changes should be made with the prescribing clinician because antidepressant discontinuation can itself cause significant symptoms.
Can Kanna Cause Serotonin Syndrome?
Because kanna affects serotonin-related mechanisms, researchers and clinicians have reason to be cautious about combining it with other strongly serotonergic substances. Direct evidence establishing how often kanna contributes to serotonin toxicity in humans is limited, so the risk should not be exaggerated or presented as though it has been precisely quantified.
Serotonin syndrome is a potentially serious medical condition caused by excessive serotonergic activity. Concerning symptoms can include severe agitation, confusion, heavy sweating, tremor, muscle jerking or rigidity, abnormal reflexes, rapidly worsening symptoms, and elevated body temperature.
Someone experiencing a severe reaction after combining medications, supplements, or psychoactive substances should seek emergency medical care rather than attempting to identify the exact cause at home.
What Are the Side Effects of Kanna?
Human studies involving standardized Sceletium extracts have generally found relatively good short-term tolerability, but the number of participants studied remains small. Reported adverse experiences across the literature have included issues such as headache, gastrointestinal discomfort, changes in sleep, and other mild symptoms.
The better question for a modern consumer is not simply whether kanna as a plant has produced side effects in clinical research. Product formulation, concentration, other active ingredients, medication use, frequency of use, and individual health can all change the risk.
A standardized extract used in a small research study cannot automatically establish the safety of every commercial product carrying the word “kanna” on its packaging.
Is Kanna Legal in Tennessee?
Kanna should not be confused with kratom under Tennessee’s 2026 law. Tennessee specifically prohibited possession, manufacture, and sale of kratom beginning July 1, 2026, including the plant and products manufactured from it.
Kanna is a different botanical. However, consumers should not assume that every product marketed as kanna is automatically lawful or accurately labeled simply because the botanical itself is different from kratom. Legal status can depend on what a particular product actually contains, and the rapidly changing Cat’s Claw market has already demonstrated why the name printed on the front of a package does not always reveal its full pharmacology.
Anyone relying on the legal status of a specific commercial product should check current Tennessee and federal rules rather than assuming that “sold in a store” means “approved” or “proven safe.”
Why the Post-Kratom Market Matters in Tennessee
Tennessee provides an important example of what happens when a widely available psychoactive botanical is removed from legal retail shelves. For years, consumers could encounter kratom in smoke shops, convenience stores, specialty retailers, and online. Over time, the marketplace expanded beyond traditional leaf into extracts, tablets, shots, enhanced products, and highly concentrated 7-OH formulations.
The market then evolved further. Brooks has followed the emergence of MGM-15, MGM-16, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, and products marketed as entirely different botanicals despite containing related opioid-active compounds.
Tennessee’s kratom ban changes access, but it does not necessarily eliminate the reasons people were buying these products in the first place. Some consumers were seeking pain relief, while others were trying to manage opioid withdrawal, increase energy, reduce anxiety, improve mood, sleep, or experience euphoria.
That leaves a market opportunity for new products promising similar outcomes even when their chemistry is completely different.
Kanna is worth watching for precisely that reason. It does not need to act like kratom pharmacologically to become attractive to people searching for something natural, legal-looking, psychoactive, relaxing, stimulating, euphoric, or emotionally altering.
“Natural” Does Not Mean Inactive
The divide between “drugs” and “natural products” can be misleading because plants manufacture chemicals, and some of those chemicals have powerful effects on the human nervous system. Kratom is natural. Kava is natural. Cannabis is natural. Kanna is natural. Their active compounds still have pharmacology.
A more useful way to evaluate a botanical product is to ask what compounds it contains, how concentrated those compounds are, what receptors or signaling systems they affect, whether the formulation has actually been studied, what happens with repeated use, what medications may interact with it, and why the person is taking it.
Those questions are far more informative than whether a product is packaged as a supplement, sold near vitamins, or described with the words natural, holistic, herbal, or plant-based.
What Should People in Recovery Know About Kanna?
Recovery does not require pretending that every medication, supplement, herb, cup of coffee, and psychoactive drug carries identical risk. Context, intent, pharmacology, and individual history all matter.
There is an important difference between using a medication as prescribed and repeatedly purchasing concentrated psychoactive products for euphoria or emotional escape. For someone with a history of addiction, kanna becomes more concerning when it begins functioning as a substitute for another intoxicant rather than simply because the plant has psychoactive properties.
Warning signs can include repeatedly using kanna to become intoxicated, escalating to stronger extracts, hiding use, combining it with other substances, feeling unable to socialize or relax without it, repeatedly trying and failing to stop, or using it as a way to avoid addressing dependence on another substance.
People who find themselves rotating between kratom alternatives, unknown smoke-shop products, opioids, alcohol, or other drugs may benefit from addressing the underlying pattern rather than searching for another substance to replace the previous one.
When Kanna Use May Be Becoming a Problem
Consider speaking with a healthcare or addiction professional if kanna use involves any of the following:
- Repeated unsuccessful attempts to stop or reduce use
- Increasing amounts or increasingly concentrated extracts
- Persistent cravings or preoccupation with obtaining the product
- Using primarily to become intoxicated
- Combining kanna with other substances to intensify its effects
- Using despite problems at work, home, school, or in relationships
- Using kanna to replace another substance without addressing the original dependence
- Anxiety about running out or being unable to obtain the product
- Hiding the amount or frequency of use
- Continuing despite medication interactions or health concerns
- Returning to broader substance use after kanna becomes part of the pattern
The specific chemical involved matters medically, especially when withdrawal or drug interactions are possible. The broader behavioral pattern matters as well.
How Brooks Helps
The modern psychoactive-product market changes much faster than treatment terminology. Someone may enter treatment after using alcohol, fentanyl, kratom, concentrated 7-OH, an unfamiliar tablet purchased from a smoke shop, a product labeled Cat’s Claw, or a combination of substances that they cannot completely identify.
Brooks Healing Center evaluates the person and the actual pattern of substance use rather than requiring every emerging product to fit neatly into an established category. Depending on clinical need, treatment may begin with medical detox in Tennessee before continuing into residential addiction treatment.
Brooks also provides Medication-Assisted Treatment when clinically appropriate for opioid or alcohol use disorder. Patients who no longer need 24-hour residential care but still benefit from significant daily clinical structure may transition into Brooks’ Partial Hospitalization Program, with supportive housing available for eligible patients. Sober living can provide another layer of structure as people build greater independence in recovery.
If a natural, legal-looking, over-the-counter, or smoke-shop product has become difficult to stop, the wording on the package does not determine whether the problem deserves attention.
Call Brooks Healing Center admissions at (931) 486-8824 to discuss treatment options.
Frequently Asked Questions About Kanna
What is kanna?
Kanna is a psychoactive botanical native to southern Africa that is traditionally associated with Sceletium tortuosum, also classified as Mesembryanthemum tortuosum. It contains mesembrine-type alkaloids that affect serotonin-related and other neurological pathways.
Is kanna a drug?
Kanna is a plant, but it contains pharmacologically active psychoactive compounds. Calling something an herb or supplement does not mean it lacks drug-like effects on the nervous system.
Does kanna get you high?
Kanna can produce psychoactive effects. Scientific reviews of traditional use describe mood-elevating, euphoric, and intoxicating effects, although its effects are pharmacologically different from opioids, cannabis, alcohol, kratom, and other drugs.
Is kanna addictive?
Current research does not establish the same physical dependence and withdrawal pattern seen with opioids, kratom, or concentrated 7-OH. However, the evidence is limited, particularly for frequent recreational use of highly concentrated products. A person can also develop compulsive or problematic use without experiencing severe physical withdrawal.
Does kanna cause withdrawal?
A clearly defined kanna withdrawal syndrome has not been established in human research. This should not be interpreted as proof that every person using concentrated kanna heavily can stop without symptoms, because recreational high-dose use has not been adequately studied.
Is kanna the same as kratom?
No. Kanna and kratom come from different plants and have substantially different pharmacology. Kratom contains opioid-active alkaloids including mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, while kanna’s best-characterized compounds are mesembrine-type alkaloids with serotonin-related activity. Brooks explains kratom dependence in greater detail on our kratom addiction treatment page.
Can kanna help with kratom or 7-OH withdrawal?
There is not sufficient clinical evidence to recommend kanna as a treatment for kratom, 7-OH, or opioid withdrawal. Someone experiencing physical dependence should seek appropriate medical guidance rather than attempting to rotate between unregulated psychoactive products. Brooks’ guide to 7-OH withdrawal explains the symptoms and clinical considerations involved.
Is kanna an opioid?
No. Kanna is not considered an opioid and does not primarily produce its effects through the opioid mechanisms associated with kratom and concentrated 7-OH.
Does kanna affect serotonin?
Yes. Laboratory research demonstrates that mesembrine and other kanna components interact with serotonin transporter activity. This is one reason researchers have investigated kanna for possible effects involving mood, anxiety, stress, and cognition.
Can you take kanna with antidepressants?
Kanna should not automatically be assumed safe to combine with antidepressants. Because kanna affects serotonin signaling and direct interaction research remains limited, people taking SSRIs, SNRIs, MAO inhibitors, or other psychiatric medications should discuss kanna with the clinician managing those medications.
Can kanna cause serotonin syndrome?
The precise risk is not well established because direct human evidence is limited. However, kanna has serotonin-transporter activity, so combining it with other strongly serotonergic drugs warrants caution. Severe agitation, confusion, abnormal muscle movements, heavy sweating, high temperature, or rapidly worsening symptoms after combining psychoactive substances require urgent medical evaluation.
Is kanna legal in Tennessee?
Kanna and kratom are different botanicals. Tennessee’s law that took effect July 1, 2026 specifically prohibited possession, manufacture, and sale of kratom. Consumers should still verify current laws and the actual ingredients of individual products because botanical labeling does not guarantee that a commercial product contains only the plant named on its packaging.
Is kanna like kava?
Kanna and kava can both produce psychoactive or relaxing effects, but they come from different plants and contain different active chemicals. Kava contains kavalactones, while kanna contains mesembrine-type alkaloids. Brooks compares kava and kratom here.
Is kanna like Cat’s Claw?
No. Authentic kanna is naturally psychoactive. Authentic Cat’s Claw is not expected to produce the opioid-like effects associated with the mislabeled products identified in 2026. Some products marketed as Cat’s Claw were found to contain powerful kratom-related opioid compounds, which Brooks covers in Cat’s Claw or 7-OH in Disguise?.
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