Misha Brown entered his local service station from Circle K to Austin, Texas, when he says that a teenager approached him and asked him to buy him “feel free”. When Brown said no, he said he believed the boy had tried to grab his wallet.
Brown, 37, told the story in a tiktok last month which has more than 23 million views.
When he entered the store and spoke to the teenager’s attendant, she underlined feeling free – a drink based on plants sold in small blue bottles and the size of a shot that pretending to offer “relaxation, productivity and concentration” – and told him that people came approximately six times a day to buy the product, he said in the video. “It’s so addictive and people lose their heads,” he recalls the attendant.
Brown had never heard of feeling free, but the video sparked a wave of comments on the product. The young people described “these devastating experiences with these products,” he told NBC News.
Feel Free was launched by Botanic Tonics in 2020. Feel Free Classic contains Kava Root, which is presented for its relaxing effects, and Kratom, a plant native to Southeast Asia known for its stimulating and opioid effects.
It is the Kratom by feeling free who has experts and health officials concerned. The Food and Drug Administration said Kratom was an opioid in 2018 and took measures to repress the products linked 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 by the Congressal Research Service.
Kratom “is worrying for me,” said Dr. Robert Levy, an expert in drug addiction and an associate professor of family medicine and community health at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Minnesota. “I saw [kratom addiction] And treated it several times, “said Levy.
John, from Columbia, in South Carolina, also shared videos on Tiktok about Feel Free. The 35 -year -old man, who had previously struggled with dependence on heroin and methamphetamine, had been sober eight years when he learned the drink. At the time, John, who asked that his last name be retained for privacy, said that “it all started to go badly” in his life, including the loss of his job in Aldi. After trying a sample to feel free of a sales representative in a local plant-based store in early 2024, he said, he was hung.
“I tried it and I really liked it,” said John. “It made me feel hot. … It gave me good energy and I loved it.”
In eight months, John said that he almost drank a case of classic free bottles per day. To feed his dependence, he started to deliver Doordash, emptied the $ 8,000 of his 401 (K), and sold his PlayStation 5, a laptop of play and “everything I had,” he said. When his money exhausted, he used theft. He estimates that he spent about $ 30,000 in total.
“I was doing everything I could,” said John. “It transformed me into someone I am not.”
John and Brown are not the only ones to raise awareness of non-free non-if. On Reddit, a dedicated group to quit smoking is free of more than 5,000 subscribers.
“Believe me, when I tell you, you have to run away as quickly as possible,” said a Reddit user.
Botanic Tonics, the manufacturer of Felt Free, agreed to pay $ 8.75 million to settle a collective appeal in 2023 which said that he had not warned consumers of Kratom’s risks and because he announced the product as a safe replacement of alcohol. The company has not admitted any reprehensible act, but has changed its label to include information that the product could be formed by habit and that people who have history of drug addiction should consider not consuming it.
Botanic Tonics said in a statement to NBC News that “false and misleading complaints were made on social networks and have been perpetuated on the media”.
“Botanic Tonics has sold more than 129.7 million portions of feeling free to date. We have received less than 1,000 complaints of complaints on consumer’s undesirable events in all categories, with no complaints involving severe drug addiction, “said the press release, adding that this represents” an exceptionally low complaint that contradicts “.
What is Kratom?
Kratom, also known as Mitratyna Speciosa, has been cultivated in Southeast Asia for centuries, said Oliver Grundmann, clinical professor at the Pharmacy College at the University of Florida. Grundmann said he was involved for the first time in Kratom’s research in 2016 at a time when the Kratom products market was “much smaller”. He quickly discovered growing demand, which he attributed to the stimulant, pain and possibly sedative effects of Kratom.
The FDA says that Kratom is “not appropriate for use as a food supplement” and that there is “inadequate information to ensure reasonable assurance that this ingredient does not have a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury”. It is often used for self-treatment conditions, including anxiety, depression, pain, disorder of opioid consumption and the withdrawal of opioids, the agency said.
The continuous use of Kratom has been linked to gastrointestinal problems, including nausea, vomiting, constipation and diarrhea, according to experts. Most significant quantities can also lead to high heart rate and perspiration, said Grundmann. The Drug Encompement Administration says that Kratom users have undergone weight loss, insomnia, convulsions 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 Ministry of Justice ranks 7-OH, one of the two main chemical compounds found in Kratom, as an illicit substance because of its power-a decision that would restrict or prohibit access to 7-OH products. 7-OH naturally occurs in the Kratom, but the synthetic versions of the compound are also sold, generally in highly concentrated autonomous forms. The FDA focused on these synthetic and highly concentrated forms of 7-OH, no kratom based on plants. Feel Free contains plant kratoms, not synthetic 7-OH, botanical tonics said in a press release.
FDA commissioner Marty Makary said that 7-OH should be classified as a substance in Annex I alongside drugs such as heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, which means that he has no accepted medical use and high abuse potential.
In 2016, the Drug Enforcement Administration said that it planned to classify the compounds of Kratom, including 7-OH, as medicines in Annex I. He abandoned these efforts after a significant decline in Kratom defenders.
Levy, the drug expert expert, said that compared to Kratom, 7-OH is a “much more powerful opioid”, and the products sold as “7-OH” are almost completely artificial.
Marc Swogger, an associate professor in the Psychiatry Department of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, said that Kratom tends not to be addictive when taken in low doses, but that people can develop tolerance and need to take more to feel the same effects. When people stop taking kratom, some may withdraw a withdrawal.
Do you feel free?
Feel Free is delivered in bottles of 2 ounces, but a portion is half of this. The label says that people should not drink more than 2 ounces within 24 hours. The label also warns that the product can become habits and recommends that people who have a history of drug addiction planning not to consume the product.
The brain of a convalescent drug addict can cure but never goes completely to normal, said Levy, comparing him to someone in cancer remission. A little irritation, like a drink without feeling free, can trigger an addiction to come back.
“You play with fire,” said Levy. “As a medical doctor of drug addiction, I would never say that someone consumes [Feel Free] It is in recovery. (He added that he would not recommend it to anyone in general because it is not regulated.)
Mac Haddow, a principal researcher in public policy for the American Kratom Association, said: “We are concerned about any product which has a responsibility for dependence which is classified as causing serious adverse events.”
“We strongly support very difficult regulations on Kratom products,” he added. “We are aware of the relationships that people in free space feel on dependence, because we have people in the Kratom space.”
Utah has prohibited the sale of free products. “State law prohibits the sale of any Kratom product which is mixed with other ingredients in a way that changes its quality or strength insofar as it could be harmful to consumers,” said Caroline Hargraves, public information responsible for the Department of Agriculture and Food of UTAH.
After trying to stop feeling free several times, John started to share videos of his intense withdrawal symptoms on Tiktok. These included intense body tremors, perspiration, the difficulty in breathing and foaming, he said. In February, John’s withdrawal was so bad that he was hospitalized. He said that the only other system in his system was marijuana. It was placed on a fan and then developed pneumonia, according to the hospital staff notes when it was admitted who was examined by NBC News.
“They thought I was going to die,” said John.
John said he had published his videos because “I just want to try to help people and make a difference.”
Brown, who posted the Tiktok talking about his experience at the service station, said he was a former drinker.
“Dependence is something that affects many people,” he said. “If [Feel Free] is something that is so easily achievable and is marketed as, like an alcohol -free substitute or as an energy drink, I think it’s quite dangerous. “”
If you or someone you know with a problem of alcohol, drugs or another problem of drug addiction, call the free and confidential assistance line of the administration of drug addiction and mental health services at 1-800-662-Help (1-800-662-4357), or visit findreatment.gov.
