Kratom leaves on sale at the Din Daeng Market in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Lauren DeCicca | Getty Images
Botanic Tonics, a Santa Monica-based beverage company, faces a class-action lawsuit after a man claimed that one of its drinks caused him to relapse after seven years of sobriety.
The lawsuit alleges the tonic contains a powerful ingredient that has similar effects on the brain to opioids.
- Romulo Torres, a recovering alcoholic, became addicted to the product, drinking 10 Feel Free Tonics.
- The lawsuit
claims that Botanic Tonics manipulated its formula of Feel Free to
enhance the effects of kratom and ignite a long-lasting and magnified
"high."
- Although Botanic Tonics markets Feel Free as a kava-based beverage, the main ingredient is kratom.
- Botanic Tonics refuted the claims and said that the brand intends to defend its product in court, stating that it is safe, manufactured, and marketed to the highest industry standards.
- Kratom
can have similar effects on brain receptors to opioids and "appears to
have properties that expose users to the risks of addiction, abuse, and
dependence," according to a 2022 FDA warning.
