Marketing materials say the Feel Free beverage is no more habit-forming than sugar or caffeine, but a lawsuit says it has caused addiction and illness.
A Santa Monica beverage company is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging the primary ingredient in its Feel Free kava drink is an addictive opioid-like substance known as kratom.
Marketing materials say the product is no more habit-forming than sugar or caffeine. But attorney Shounak Dharap, who represents the plaintiff, says in the lawsuit that the Food and Drug Administration has noted that kratom “appears to have properties that expose people who consume kratom to the risks of addiction, abuse and dependence.
After purchasing the product from a 7-Eleven, another defendant in the class-action lawsuit, Torres developed a strong addiction to the product, drinking 10 Feel Free beverages per day and spending thousands per month on the drink. “All he had taken was Feel Free,” the lawsuit reads. Over the next several months, Torres would be admitted to the emergency room for symptoms associated with severe opioid use, including vomiting, lapses in consciousness, delirium and psychosis.
Students have been told Feel Free will “fix all [their] stress,” the lawsuit states, noting a partnership with the three schools was so successful that Botanic Tonics planned to add an additional 76 colleges to its partnership program by next year. Dharap adds that the product, “through tragic irony,” has perpetuated the very addiction it seeks to avoid.
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