By Annika Salant, August 26, 2025
Feel Free by Botanic tonic is taking the internet by storm following its TikTok controversy for not initially disclosing its “habit-forming” side effects.
According to the Botanic Tonics website, Feel Free gained popularity as a supplement meant “to help with relaxation, productivity and focus.” However, multiple TikTokers recognized a growing dependency on the product after extended use.
The tonic is made of kratom, a Southeast Asian plant known for its psychoactive and opioid-like qualities. The National Institute on Drug Abuse found that kratom contains mitragynine and 7-OH-mitragynine, a compound that targets “opioid receptors” in the brain. According to the FDA, the sale of kratom as a drug product, a dietary supplement or a food additive is prohibited, yet it is available in gas stations and convenience stores nationwide.
Jasmine Adeoye, an outspoken opponent of Feel Free, uploaded a TikTok Aug. 4 discussing her experience being addicted to the product.
“At a year to about a year and three months … is when the usage started to drastically increase, and I felt myself developing a pretty heavy dependency on (Feel Free),” Adeoye said. “At this point, I started taking at least one a day, sometimes like three to five a day. This is when I started to feel physical withdrawals when I wouldn’t take them.”
The FDA has only regulated synthetic strains of kratom so far, leaving Feel Free in an operable gray area.
This has ignited flames of debate surrounding the ethics of selling psychoactive drugs under the guise of health and wellness. However, there is an argument that the responsibility falls back on the consumer.
“The problem is, it’s all the consumer’s responsibility,” said Belal Hasan, a food biotechnology professor at Cal Poly Pomona, “We call eating in food science ‘voluntary risk taking.’”
He went on to ask: “Where is that in our education? In our general education, we don’t learn much about our nutrition or our bodily needs.”
Wellness culture, contrasted with a lack of education, has created a market for potentially harmful products like Feel Free, according to Hasan.
“You are responsible for every bite you take and put in your body, whether it’s sugar, protein, fat, energy drinks, artificial, clean label, you are the main player,” Hasan said. “The food industry will follow. Only we see the demand from consumers.”
The ethics of allowing harmful products to be sold cannot be ignored, according to Sociology Professor Jack Fong.
“The unethical aspect of capitalism means that in American society, there will always be a variety of companies that kind of slip by the radar to give us products that they put a lot of bling in without the FDA being able to control it,” Fong said. “So, what happens is, we wait for the government officials to say, ‘Oh, my God, (Feel Free) is bad for your health, but that’s only after the guinea pigs, who are consumers, suffer the consequences of that.”
Ultimately, Fong emphasizes a greater need for education about food and nutrition.
Social Psychology Professor Randy Stein believes people today are seeking wellness but are misguided by strategically vague marketing. He argues that even the product’s name, “Feel Free,” is cryptic and designed to mislead consumers.
“What (Botanic Tonics) is communicating to me is ‘we are full of it,’” Stein said. “But what they are communicating to their ideal customer, strangely enough, is ‘we are authentic, like ‘we exist outside of the realm of regular science’.”
There are resources available to help prevent accidental encounters with potentially addictive products like Feel Free. According to Hasan, there is a new app called Yuka that tells you if there are additives.
“If you start to use this, you will realize how far we are from being aware of what we are putting in our bodies,” he said.