The Dangerous Truth About “Feel Free”—and Why Accountability Can’t Wait
By Troy A. Rafferty Mass Tort Lawyer and Shareholder, Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa
When a product bills itself as a “plant-based wellness supplement” that supports relaxation, productivity, and focus, most people assume it’s safe. That’s how Jasmine Adeoye saw it when she first picked up a small blue bottle of Feel Free Classic. What followed was not relaxation or focus but addiction, financial ruin, and a struggle for her health and dignity. Her story, as told this week by CNN, is not an anomaly. It is the predictable outcome of a business model that relies on addictiveness while marketing itself as wellness. And the company behind it—Botanic Tonics — knew exactly what it was doing.
Feel Free Classic is built on two active ingredients: kava and kratom. Kava, traditionally used in the South Pacific, can cause mild euphoria but is not considered addictive. Kratom, however, is a very different story. The FDA has warned for years that kratom acts like an opioid in the brain and carries a significant risk of dependency. By the time Botanic Tonics put Feel Free on shelves in 2019, the science was clear, case reports were piling up, and several states had already banned kratom. This wasn’t some obscure herbal risk that no one could have foreseen—it was a red flag waving in broad daylight.
Yet the company didn’t hesitate to push the product into more than 24,000 gas stations, smoke shops, and convenience stores nationwide. This wasn’t boutique wellness. This was mass distribution designed to normalize the drink and make it as accessible as a can of Red Bull. At $8 to $13 a bottle, sold in bright packaging and promoted on popular podcasts, Feel Free was marketed not as a risk but as a lifestyle. The result was predictable: repeat purchasing that often turned into compulsive dependence. Adeoye went from sipping a single bottle occasionally to consuming up to a dozen in a day, spending more than $100 daily and racking up $12,000 in debt. She vomited multiple times a day, damaged her teeth, and lived in fear of nighttime withdrawals. That is not the story of a consumer who failed to read a label. That is the story of a company that made addiction its business model.
Botanic Tonics now points to its warning labels — labels that admit the drink is “habit-forming”—and insists the product is safe when “used as directed.” But history shows us what this defense really is: a corporate shrug. Tobacco companies claimed cigarettes were fine if you didn’t smoke too many. Opioid manufacturers blamed patients for “misuse.” Energy drink makers argued that nobody could possibly drink six cans in one sitting. The truth is that companies know how their products are actually consumed. When executives put a bottle containing two servings in every corner store in America, they know many consumers will drink more than one a day. When they do it with kratom, they know dependency is a foreseeable outcome.
That is why the law exists—to hold corporations accountable when they put profit ahead of safety. Botanic Tonics has already been sued in a class action, which it quietly settled without admitting wrongdoing, and it has since tweaked its labels. But these are half-measures taken only after people’s lives were already upended. For consumers like Adeoye, warnings came too late. The law provides stronger remedies: claims for failure to warn, defective design, negligent marketing, and deceptive trade practices. And behind those doctrines lies a simple principle: if a company unleashes foreseeable harm on the public, it must pay for the damage.
This isn’t just about compensating one woman in Texas or the thousands like her who’ve stumbled into addiction through a wellness drink. It’s about deterrence. If Botanic Tonics is held accountable, other companies eyeing the lucrative “sober curious” market may think twice before sneaking addictive substances into glossy bottles and calling it health. Because make no mistake, Feel Free is part of a larger trend. As Americans look for alternatives to alcohol and opioids, unregulated “natural” products are flooding the market. Many slip through gray areas of law and regulation, marketed aggressively until lawsuits or medical emergencies bring the truth to light.
What happened to Jasmine Adeoye was not bad luck. It was not unforeseeable. It was the natural result of corporate choices made with full knowledge of kratom’s risks. Botanic Tonics saw the science, saw the bans, saw the studies, and pressed forward anyway—because dependency was good for business. Now the law must do what labels and disclaimers never could: hold the company accountable for the lives it damaged, and make sure others in the industry see a cautionary tale, not a business plan.
Wellness should never mean wrecked finances, broken health, and shattered lives. And companies that profit from addiction must be made to pay—in damages, in dollars, and in deterrence.
About Troy A. Rafferty
Troy A. Rafferty, shareholder at Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa, is a nationally recognized trial lawyer with nearly 30 years of experience in mass tort and products liability litigation. He has secured landmark verdicts, including $150 million and $140 million in Testosterone Therapy cases, and helped lead the $36 billion nationwide opioids settlement. Board-certified in civil trial law, he has been honored by Best Lawyers in America, Florida Super Lawyers, and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. A past president of the Florida Justice Association and recipient of its Perry Nichols Award, Rafferty is also a dedicated philanthropist, spearheading a $20 million settlement for survivors of abuse at Florida reform schools and donating $1 million to expand youth programs in Pensacola.
