Feel Free: The new drug on the shelves

100% plant based, you know, like cocaine. Feel Free is the deeply controversial product being sold by Botanic Tonics. The product is marketed as a “feel-good tonic” and describes itself as plant based, alcohol free, caffeine free, and a number of other “free from” titles. All of this sounds fine on the surface, until you look into the plants they are using.

Kava is the main selling point. A plant native to the pacific islands, the traditional drink made from the root is a part of many native cultures. Co-opted by the founder of Botanic Tonics JW Ross, a white man.

While the kava root is harmless in its traditional form, especially at its lower consumption rate, a $30million company doesn't want you to consume in moderation.

Kava is a restricted substance in many countries. It's illegal to sell or import it for medical purposes in the UK. In Canada all products containing kava need to pass through the government's testing to be approved. Singapore has banned the substance outright. All this to say, kava can have some pretty major effects on your health if you take it incorrectly.

Recently there's been a pretty massive backlash. People have found Feel Free to be addictive, drinking upwards of nine bottles a day. The serving size is half a bottle. This information is not very obvious on their website, and I doubt it's clear on the bottle. In classic messy brand style, instead of resigning their packaging, or putting out a PSA, they made a TikTok. This TikTok was not a hit.

Instead of a generally informative video, they took a passive aggressive tone. Impling their audience was stupid for not sticking to the half bottle per day. This went so badly that Feel Free was thrown into a whole new audience that saw straight through the plant-based=healthy ethos.

I would love to say this would mark the end of a company like this, but they're an American company. And in a political age where funding to the FDA is being cut down to almost nothing, there's very little to stop a company that is making no effort to keep its customers alive.