Kim Maloney says she needed a pick-me-up.
She had been struggling with energy in the morning. When someone she trusted recommended a Feel Free tonic that contained kratom, she bought it from a local CBD store in 2021. The little blue bottle, she says, looked similar to a 5-Hour Energy. She thought it was harmless.
But for her it wasn't, says the 49-year-old Ohio mom of two.
"Nobody knew at that time what it was," Maloney says. "You figure 'all-plant-based,' 'all-natural.' I didn't know too much about kratom. I did not know it was that addictive."
Maloney says she soon fell into a debilitating kratom addiction, one that eventually had her drinking upward of 10 kratom drinks a day. Her addiction, she says, took nearly everything from her: Her car. Her house. Her 27-year marriage. Nearly half her bodyweight. At one point, she says, she weighed 70 pounds.
Maloney believes her addiction would have taken her life too, had she not gone to rehab in 2024.
"My eyes were rolling in the back of my head. I couldn't walk straight. I didn't leave my couch for months. I had pancreatitis. I had shingles. I was sick. I mean, I was really sick. So my daughter, who lives in LA, said, 'You know what, mom? I'm done. If you can't get off this stuff, I'm done,' " Maloney says. "My blood pressure was like 58 over 49. I was dying."
USA TODAY spoke with over 20 people who say they became severely addicted to kratom − a plant ingredient found in products sold at gas stations, liquor stores and smoke shops across the country by various companies. Many of the people we spoke with had no history of substance abuse prior to ingesting kratom. Some were health and fitness enthusiasts who thought kratom was just like any other wellness supplement. Others thought it was a healthy alternative to alcohol. A few mistook it for a run of the mill caffeine drink, like coffee or tea.
But kratom has addictive potential, medical experts say − and getting hooked on it often carries devastating consequences. A mom in California says she maxed out at least two credit cards to fuel her addiction − now she doesn't know what the future holds for herself or her 9-year-old son. A father says his addiction drove him $50,000 into debt and tanked his credit score into the 500s. Crushing withdrawals, he says, have made it extraordinarily difficult to quit; still, he's trying to rebuild a life for himself and his young child.
Despite their dangers, kratom products remain legal in most states, including California. Many have colorful packaging and are sold in stores that offer up bubble gum and potato chips. However, with recent action by the Food and Drug Administration and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the tide on kratom may finally be turning.
"How is (kratom) portrayed in the world? It's organic. It's healthy. It's health and wellness. It's like chia. It's like oatmeal. It's like stuff you put in Starbucks, almond milk or whatnot," says Dr. Timothy Fong, a UCLA addiction psychiatrist, who says he's seen a spike in calls from people seeking treatment for kratom addiction in recent years. "It comes from a little bit of that world − not from the illicit drug, underground, cartel world that's seen as much more seedy."
The FDA is cracking down on 7-OH, a byproduct of kratom. Is it enough?
During a July 29 press conference, the FDA announced its intention to crackdown on products containing 7-Hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, a compound naturally occurring in the kratom plant.
FDA commissioner Martin Makary spoke alongside Kennedy while announcing their plan to initiate the process to have 7-OH scheduled as an illicit substance. That will happen if the Drug Enforcement Administration approves the FDA's sanction after review.
More: Products with opioid-like effects sold at gas stations may be banned as illicit substances
However, Makary also made clear during that same press conference the organization's focus is on 7-OH, not kratom overall. Medical experts tell USA TODAY that all kratom products carry risk for addiction, not just ones marketed with 7-OH, though those products are often stronger. Some of the people USA TODAY spoke with say their addiction was just to products with kratom, and they never tried ones with synthetic 7-OH. For others, using products with kratom became a gateway to using products with synthetic 7-OH.
There are many products on the market that contain kratom, and they come in many forms. Some are capsules, others powders, others drinks. One product recently went viral. On July 25, a TikToker posted a video in which he described how a teenage boy tried stealing his wallet outside a gas station after he refused to go inside to buy the boy a Feel Free tonic. A representative for Botanic Tonics, the company behind Feel Free, told USA TODAY its Feel Free Classic tonic contains only natural leaf kratom, with nearly undetectable levels of 7-OH.
Earlier this year, Botanic Tonics settled an $8.75 million class-action lawsuit filed in March 2023 that alleged the company falsely marketed its kratom tonic as a healthy alternative to alcohol. In January 2024, the company announced it would add a warning to the label for its Feel Free Classic tonic saying the product can become "habit forming and harmful to your health if consumed irresponsibly," and, in May 2024, it announced the addition of a 21-and-over restriction to its products.
The Botanic Tonics representative told USA TODAY the company takes its 21-and-over restriction very seriously and has reached out to this TikToker for further details. The company's CEO Cameron Korehbandi has also released a statement applauding the FDA for going after 7-OH.
"We've been advocating for exactly this type of regulatory approach — one that protects consumers from synthetic derivatives while preserving access to traditional botanical ingredients with centuries of safe use," Korehbandi said.
Many people who descended into kratom addiction say gas station products sucked them in. The "Quitting Kratom" subreddit has 52,000 members and several posts a day from people documenting their journeys trying to quit kratom and 7-OH.
Dr. Lief Fenno, chair of the American Psychiatric Association Council on Addiction Psychiatry, believes kratom has escaped scrutiny because it does not bind to receptors in the brain the same way that drugs like heroin and morphine do. However, that doesn't mean kratom can't have similar effects.
"The shapes of these molecules from kratom are very different than the shapes of things like morphine or fentanyl," Fenno says. "And so, the argument can be made that they're not opioids, because they don't have a specific shape like opioids. And that's despite the fact that they work in a very similar way."
Some kratom addicts know this firsthand. Jason, a man in Florida who has struggled with addictions to both kratom and heroin, says the effects of the substances − as well as their withdrawals − felt very similar. After seven years of sobriety from opioids, he says he fell into kratom addiction after trying it with friends at a kava bar, a bar that serves drinks with the plant kava. He asked we withhold his last name, out of fear that sharing his addiction struggles could damage his career.
At first, he says, he used kratom like an energy drink. Before long, however, it had a similar grip on him as heroin.
"It's a strange, insidious drug that imperceptibly steals your soul," Jason says of kratom. "The downsides aren't evident until libido nosedives, hair begins to fall out of your head... and you are dosing three-times-a-day only to experience the briefest of highs before returning to a sludge-like stupor."
Fong says the ability of companies to put large amounts of kratom into otherwise innocuous-looking products has changed the game and made it more susceptible to abuse.
"At its core, this is a plant that's been around thousands of years," Fong says. "It has been used in Southeast Asia, chewing on the leaf as a stimulant, as a way of pain relief. And now, through vast modern technology, we've created the ability to have, what I call, fast-food kratom, if you will. Different formulations. Capsules. Powders. Teas. Gummies. Smokable versions. All sorts of different things."
Though kratom isn't as well known as other substances, addiction to it affects more people than many may realize. After watching a friend become addicted to 7-OH, Tom Filippone started Klear Recovery, a business that helps people addicted to kratom and 7-OH detox with physician-led treatment.
Since its launch this year, Filippone says he's been overwhelmed with inquiries, getting at least four or five every hour.
"These are not drug people that I talk to for the vast majority of them," he says. "They're 55-year-old women who live in Texas and are involved in their church who bought it at the gas station."
'Gas station heroin' nearly killed her. How tianeptine became a 'dark secret' for many.
And when these people try to quit kratom, Filippone says, often they're unprepared for just how intense the withdrawals can be.
"Some of these people's doses get so high," he says. "If you cold-turkeyed it, you are looking at seven days of hell."
'I felt like I was going almost psychotic'
Emily Beutler says she became addicted to kratom in 2022 after trying a tea with it at a kava bar in Arizona. Somebody had recommended it as a healthy way to relieve anxiety.
It wasn't long before Beutler found herself returning to her local kava bar in Idaho for kratom every day. Soon, the kava bar's drink wasn't enough; she started buying kratom powder from the gas station, so she could ingest greater amounts at home. Eventually, she was taking multiple spoonfuls a day, unable to sleep through the night without it.
Then, Beutler came across a podcast where people shared their harrowing stories of kratom addiction. She quit that day.
"The next three-to-five days was probably the worst I've ever physically felt," she says. "I was sweating through my bedsheets that night. I was taking multiple baths a night, because my restless legs were so bad. I felt like I was going almost psychotic."
The pain of withdrawal has kept many people trapped in the cycle of addiction.
One man in Colorado says he got addicted to kratom after mistaking it for an alternative to coffee. The man, who requested we withhold his name out fear that sharing his story could harm his business, said the withdrawals were terrible. He couldn't afford to go to rehab, so he took time off work to go through it at home.
"It was really rough," he says. "I had restless legs and felt like I had the flu, and I was freezing cold for 10 days or so and zero energy. I felt like I was 80-years-old."
Lucy, a mother in rural California who asked with withhold her name for her child's privacy, has been on and off kratom for about four years. Her longest stretch without it has been eight months.
She can't even drive on the same street as shops that sell kratom − the pull of addiction is that strong.
"I don't think everyone is afflicted with the disease of addiction," she says. "Obviously, there are people who can pick up substances and put them down and be fine. But I don't think kratom is a miracle drug by any means. It's hippie heroin. That's all it is."
'I'm going to get my life back'
On the other side of withdrawal, however, is hope.
Since going to rehab, Maloney hasn't had kratom in the last year. She's started rebuilding her life, slowly but surely. She recently bought her first car. She hits the gym and has recovered her bodyweight − now 145 pounds. She's also healed her relationship with her daughters, whom she lets give her random drug tests − whatever it takes to earn their trust back. As she speaks on the phone with us on a July afternoon, she's looking forward to picking up one of her daughters on the way to the gym.
Maloney is still struggling with the financial fallout of her addiction; however, she believes that, one day, that will be fixed too.
"I'm in debt, but you know what? I'm coming back," she says. "There's no doubt in my mind I'm going to get my life back better than ever. I might be living in an apartment basement with my four dogs, but you know what? I got my life. I got my kids. I got my parents. I got everybody. I got more than anybody could hope for."
She also sees the FDA's announcement as a silver lining, though she's skeptical that kratom will ever disappear entirely.
"I almost started crying," she says of the FDA's press conference. "It will save a lot of lives. I think it will. It'll save a lot of marriages, probably. And a lot of homes. But what are they going to come out with next?"
For resources or support with substance use disorder, you can visit the SAMHSA.gov website or call 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kratom is sold at gas stations. Their addictions nearly killed them
Comments