‘That’s Thousands A Month’: Texas Woman Speaks Out About Her Addiction To Feel Free Drinks That You Can Get At The Gas Station. She Was Drinking 9-12 A Day

If you’ve been to a gas station recently, you might have noticed some small, blue bottles for sale. One must be over 21 to buy one of these bottles, but it claims to contain no alcohol, THC, or THC-alternatives. So, what is it? The answer is that these little bottles contain something called “Feel Free.” The contents of the beverage are currently terrifying TikTok users.

In short, Feel Free Classic Tonic from Botanic Tonics contains a mix of kava root, leaf kratom, and other plant ingredients that the company claims “help with relaxation, productivity and focus.”

However, critics allege that some of these ingredients—specifically, leaf kratom—can foster dependency and that those who try to quit using kratom can experience withdrawal symptoms similar to opioids.

Now, a user on TikTok has gone viral with a warning about Feel Free after recounting her experience being addicted to the product.

How Did This Woman Become Addicted To Feel Free?

Texas-based TikToker Jasmine Adeoye (@jasmineadeoye_) uses her large platform to spread awareness about addiction. In a video with over 2.1 million views, she breaks down what she says is the timeline of her addiction to Feel Free.

According to Adeoye, she got sober from alcohol in June of 2022. Seeing Feel Free being marketed as an alcohol alternative, she decided to try it out, finding that the product met her needs well.

“Honestly, I thought it was a great alcohol alternative,” she explains. “It made me feel more social, more energized, more productive.”

At this time, she says her use of Feel Free was in moderation, claiming she only drank them for social events and “could go weeks at a time without having one.”

After about six months, however, she says her usage progressed. While her usage was still limited, she says it increased in both volume and frequency.

“I would take them more frequently during social events. … Probably every social event I was going to, I was taking at least one of them,” she says. “The time between me actually taking them got shorter and shorter. So instead of going, say, like two weeks without them, it would be maybe five days without them.”

Still, she says that, at this point, she felt she “had a pretty decent grip on the usage,” despite its rising frequency.

Things Get Worse

Around this time, Adeoye says she began experiencing light withdrawal symptoms. While not as severe as they would soon become, she says she “would feel more grumpy or irritated the next day after taking a couple.”

Adeoye claims that after a year since starting to use the product, her addiction began to “snowball.”

“At a year to about a year and three months—so 12 months to 15 months of usage—this is when the usage started to drastically increase. And I felt myself developing a pretty heavy dependency on them,” she says.

Around this time, she says she began consuming at least one bottle per day. One bottle contains two servings. On heavier days, she says she would consume three to five bottles. And when she didn’t take any, she says she would feel withdrawal symptoms, which she blamed on allergies.

“I would honestly, like, really chalk it up to allergies a lot of the time, ’cause I live in Texas—I get really bad allergies—and that’s kind of what the physical withdrawals felt like, sort of flu-like symptoms,” she shares.

The Impact On Her Body

Consequently, she says she began taking them before every social event. And soon, she was requiring them to simply go to work. Any day without them would result in severe withdrawal symptoms, she says. At around 15 months, she claims she was drinking anywhere between nine and 12 bottles per day.

The severity of this was having an impact on her body.

“I was nauseous all the time. I was throwing up a lot because I was taking these,” she states.

She continues, “I had super dry and flaky skin, primarily from the kava. I was super lethargic. Depression was at its worst because of these, because my dopamine levels in my brain were just completely out of whack. And I was just taking them to feel some sort of normal.”

Eventually, Adeoye says she was able to quit, which she credits to both the support of her friends and family as well as her faith.

“What got me out of that addiction was confessing it to others and not keeping it in isolation anymore, because keeping it in isolation was just festering the addiction constantly, and because of the love of family and friends—and, of course, God getting me out and redeeming me from that addiction—I am clean now,” she says.

She concludes by reiterating just how quickly the spiral of addiction can take hold. Adeoye also emphasizes that one should always read an ingredient list before consuming a product.

How Is This Legal?

Depending on the state, kratom products might not be legal.

However, in states where it is, Botanic Tonics is free to sell its Feel Free beverage. Though it has voluntarily increased its minimum age requirement to 21 years old.

Despite its legality and long-standing place on store shelves, the drink continues to be controversial. The company has been accused of underplaying the danger of some of its ingredients. A subreddit called QuittingFeelFree has documented many of the alleged side effects of stopping use of the product, from nausea to peeling skin.

That said, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently announced that the government would be looking into restrictions on certain kratom products. And Botanic Tonics recently reached an $8.75 million settlement in which it was alleged the company failed to warn customers about the dangers of kratom.

Commenters Are Shocked

In the comments section, users recounted their own experiences with Feel Free while discussing the impact that the product and others like it can have on people like Adeoye.

“I left my job where we sold this. It was so hard seeing the same customers 3+ times a day coming to get it,” wrote a user.

“The US is such a joke. The fact that these are sold right at cash registers for anyone to buy is mortifying,” added another.

“[Because] of your videos I got my local deli to stop selling them! They used to have them at the counter and I showed them all of your tik toks and then one day I came in and the person at the counter said they don’t sell them anymore,” offered a third.

BroBible reached out to Botanic Tonics via media contact form and to Adeoye via Instagram direct message.