Misha Brown was entering his local Circle K service station in Austin, Texas, when he says that a teenager approached him and asked him to buy “feel free.” When Brown said no, he said he thought the boy tried to grab his wallet.
Brown, 37, told the story in a Tiktok last month that has more than 23 million visits.
When she entered the store and told the assistant on the teenager, she said she felt free: a herbal drink sold in small, blue bottles and the size of a size that claim to offer “relaxation, productivity and focus”, and told her that people came around six times a day to buy the product, he said in the video. “It’s so addictive and people lose their heads,” recalled the assistant he said.
Brown had never heard of feeling free, but the video triggered a wave of comments on the product. Young people described “these devastating experiences with these products,” he told NBC News.
Feel Free was released by Botanic Tonics in 2020. Feel Free Classic contains Kava’s root, which is promoted by its relaxing effects, and Kratom, a native plant from Southeast Asia that is known for its stimulating and opioid effects.
It is the Kratom in feeling free what has worried experts and officials. The food and medication administration declared that Kratom was an opioid in 2018 and has taken measures to take energetic measures against products related to it. Kratom is not regulated by the federal government, although five states, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, have prohibited it, according to a report of the Congress investigation service.
Kratom “is worrisome to me,” said Dr. Robert Levy, an expert in addiction medicine and associate professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Minnesota Medicine. “I’ve seen [kratom addiction] And he treated him many times, ”said Levy.
John, from Columbia, South Carolina, has also shared videos on Tiktok about Free Free. The 35 -year -old man, who previously fought with a heroin addiction and methamphetamine, had been sober for eight years when he learned of the drink. At that time, John, who requested that his last name be retained by privacy, said “it all started to go wrong” in his life, including loss of his work in Aldi. After trying a sample of feeling free from a sales representative in a local herbal store in early 2024, he said, he was hooked.
“I tried and I really liked it,” John said. “It made me feel warm … it gave me good energy and I loved it.”
In eight months, John said he was drinking almost a box of free classic bottles per day. To feed his addiction, he began delivering for Dordash, emptied the $ 8,000 of his 401 (K) and sold his PlayStation 5, the laptop of games and “everything he had,” he said. When his money was exhausted, he turned to theft. He estimates that he spent around $ 30,000 in total.
“I was doing everything I could,” John said. “It made me someone who I am not.”
John and Brown are not the only ones who create awareness about feeling free. In Reddit, a group dedicated to quite smoking has more than 5,000 followers.
“Believe me when I tell you that you must escape as quickly as you can,” said a Reddit user.
Botanic Tonics, the manufacturer of feeling free, agreed to pay $ 8.75 million to resolve a 2023 collective claim that said he did not warn consumers about Kratom’s risks and because he announced the product as a safe replacement for alcohol. The company did not admit any crime, but changed its label to include information that the product could form a habit and people who have a history of substance abuse should consider not consuming it.
Botanic Tonics said in a statement to NBC News that “false and misleading statements are being made about feeling free on social networks and that they are perpetuating in the media.”
“Botanical Tonics has sold more than 129.7 million portions of feeling free to date. We have received less than 1,000 adverse complaints for the consumer in all categories, with zero complaints that involve a severe addiction,” said the statement, adding that this represents “an exceptionally low complaint rate that contradicts the anecdotes of sensational social networks of the client “.
What is Kratom?
Kratom, also known as Mitragyna Speciosa, has been cultivated in Southeast Asia for centuries, said Oliver Grundmann, a clinical professor at the University of Florida Pharmacy College. Grundmann said he first involved in Kratom’s investigation in 2016 at a time when the Kratom products market was “much smaller.” He soon discovered a growing demand, which attributed to the stimulating, relief and possibly sedative effects of Kratom.
The FDA says that Kratom “is not appropriate for use as a dietary supplement” and that there is “inappropriate information to provide a reasonable guarantee that said ingredient does not present a significant or unreasonable risk of disease or injury.” It is often used to make autonomous conditions that include anxiety, depression, pain, opioid opioid use disorder and opioid abstinence, says the agency.
The continuous use of Kratom has been linked to gastrointestinal problems, such as nausea, vomiting, constipation and diarrhea, experts say. Larger amounts can also lead to heart rate and high sweating, Grundmann said. The drug control administration says that Kratom users have experienced weight loss, insomnia, seizures and hallucinations. Chronic use is also associated with liver damage, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Renal Diseases.
Last month, the FDA recommended that the Department of Justice classify 7-OH, one of the two main chemical compounds found in Kratom, as an illicit substance due to its power, a movement that would restrict or prohibit access to 7-OH products. 7-Oh is naturally occurring in Kratom, but the synthetic versions of the compound are also sold, usually in highly concentrated independent forms. The FDA focused on these synthetic and highly concentrated 7-Oh Kratom forms, not based on plants. Feel Free contains Kratom based on plants, not synthetic 7-Oh, said Botanic Tonics in a statement.
The FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said that 7-OH should be classified as a substance of list I together with drugs such as heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, which means that it does not have an accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.
In 2016, the drug control administration said it planned to classify the compounds in Kratom, including 7-OH, as drugs from Annex I. He left those efforts after a great rejection of Kratom’s defenders.
Levy, the expert in addiction medicine, said that, compared to Kratom, 7-OH is a “much more powerful opioid”, and products sold as “7-OH” are almost completely artificial.
Marc Swogger, an associated professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical Center of the University of Rochester in New York, said that Kratom tends not to be addictive when taken in low doses, but that people can develop a tolerance and need to take more to feel the same effects. When people stop taking Kratom, some may experience withdrawal.
Is it safe to feel free?
Feel Free comes in 2 -ounce bottles, but a portion size is half of that. The label says that people should not drink more than 2 ounces in 24 hours. The label also warns that the product can become a formation of habits and recommend that people who have a history of substance abuse consider not consuming the product.
The brain of a recovery addict can heal, but never returns completely to normal, said Levy, comparing it to someone in cancer remission. A small irritation, like a free drink, can cause addiction to return.
“You’re playing with fire,” said Levy. “As an addiction medical doctor, I would never suggest that someone consumes that [Feel Free] That is in recovery. “
Mac Haddow, main member of public policies for the American Kratom Association, said: “We are concerned about any product that has an addiction responsibility that is classified as it causes serious adverse events.”
“We firmly support very difficult regulations on Kratom products,” he added. “We are aware of the reports that people in free space inform about addiction, since we have people in the Kratom space.”
Utah has banned the sale of Feel Free products. “The state law prohibits the sale of any Kratom product that is mixed with other ingredients in a way that alters its quality or strength to the extent that it could be harmful to consumers,” said Caroline Hargraves, a public information officer of the UTAH Food and Food Department.
After trying to quit several times, John began to share videos of his intense retirement symptoms on Tiktok. These included intense body tremors, sweating, difficulty breathing and foam of the mouth, he said. In February, John’s withdrawal was so bad that he was hospitalized. He said that the only other drug in his system was marijuana. He was put on a fan and then developed pneumonia, according to hospital staff notes when he was admitted that was reviewed by NBC News.
“They thought I was going to die,” John said.
John said he published his videos because “I just want to try to help people and make a difference.”
Brown, who published the Tiktok talking about his experience at the service station, said he is a former drinker.
“Addiction is something that affects many people,” he said. “Yeah [Feel Free] It is something that can be achieved as easily and is marketed as a substitute without alcohol or as an energy drink, I think it is quite dangerous. “
If you or someone you know are struggling with an alcohol problem, drugs or other substance abuse, call the free and confidential aid line of the administration of substances abuse and mental health at 1-800-662-HELP (1-800-662-4357), or visit Findreatment.gov.
