(CN) — A maker of kratom capsules and liquids must face consumers' claims that it failed to warn them about the herbal supplement's purportedly highly addictive properties.
A federal judge in San Diego on Wednesday mostly denied MIT45's request to dismiss the lawsuit by two California men who say they became unwittingly addicted to the company's kratom extracts because the packaging didn't warn them about the risks of substance dependence.
"While knowledge of the addictiveness of the raw form of kratom may be readily available, MIT45 sells much more concentrated products that plaintiffs allege are highly addictive," U.S. District Judge James Lorenz wrote in the 15-page ruling. "As such, plaintiffs adequately alleged that users reasonably believe that the products are not addictive, and that MIT45 is in exclusive control of information stating otherwise."
The judge dismissed the negligent misrepresentation claim because the plaintiffs only argued MIT45 failed to disclose that its extracts are addictive — not that it somehow claimed that they weren't.
Attorneys for the South Salt Lake, Utah-based company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kratom, a southeast Asian tree, produces leaves that can be chewed, eaten or brewed in tea. In low doses, it increases stamina. In high doses it acts as a painkiller and mood relaxer. More than a million Americans use it and scientists are studying its effects for use in medicine.
In recent years, evidence has mounted that kratom is addictive and can be dangerous at high doses, however, sparking lawsuits against distributors across the country.
Nominally illegal to import for human consumption since the FDA established an “import alert” a decade ago, kratom remains legal to possess in 45 states — though some have imposed age restrictions, and it's banned in a few counties. There's a gray market of online sellers, kava bars and convenience store vendors serving users who take the drug for chronic pain, opioid withdrawal symptoms and for other reasons, although as yet no studies have proven its efficacy.
In the San Diego lawsuit, one of the two plaintiffs, both identified only by their initials, says he started using MIT45's kratom extracts when he was getting clean from alcohol and dealing with intense anxiety. Because there were no
disclosures on the packaging, he thought that MIT45 kratom could be consumed every day without the risk of physical dependence.
"B.D. eventually found himself requiring larger and larger doses," he claims. "When B.D. attempted to cease using kratom he was wracked by intense physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms that were substantially similar to traditional opiate withdrawals – with symptoms including profound anxiety, deep headaches, severe gastrointestinal distress, and fatigue."
The other plaintiff says he heard about kratom through a friend, who told him it would help alleviate withdrawal from other substances without being addictive itself.
"L.M was under the reasonable, but mistaken, impression that kratom was not an opioid and that, as an all-natural supplement, it did not carry any risk of dependency," he claims. "When L.M. made his first purchase, he reviewed the MIT45 packaging and labels, but there were no disclosures on the package that would have corrected his misunderstanding about the product’s addictive potential."
The two plaintiffs seek to sue MIT45 as a class action on behalf of all consumers who bought its kratom extracts.
Last year, the Tampa Bay Times rolled out a multi-part investigation into kratom, prompted in part by Florida medical examiners’ findings that more than 500 Floridians have died in the past decade from overdoses with kratom in their bloodstream, with 46 of those deaths involving no other dangerous substances.
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