EXCLUSIVE: Feel Free maker Botanic Tonics to change minimum age for sale from 18 to 21

A company that sells a controversial tonic drink – whose ingredients include ground leaf kratom and kava root extract – plans to limit the 18+ product to only consumers 21 and older nationwide.

The change comes after an investigative news article about the tonic was published by the Carolina News and Reporter two days earlier.

“We are changing all packaging to reflect 21+,” Botanic Tonics CEO and founder JW Ross said in an email to the publication.

The change will be enacted across all of the company’s products, Feel Free Classic tonic, Feel Free tonic as well as both formulas in capsule form.

Ross said it will take 30-60 days for the change to be made on all packaging.

Feel Free has become increasingly sold in convenience stores in Columbia and across the country, despite potential health and addiction risks, as reported in the Carolina News and Reporter article.

The company said it’s continuously working to educate the public about its products after saying there was too little information advertised about the products when the company launched in 2020. 

The change follows interviews with Ross in which he expressed hesitation about the product being sold to young adults and offered to students on university campuses. 

He referenced an ethical debate between states over whether products like Feel Free should be sold at a minimum age of 18 or 21. 

“I just started feeling like that’s probably not something that’s the right thing to do,” Ross said earlier in April of keeping the sales age at 18. “My thought is, it probably should be 21, and if that’s the case, you shouldn’t be spending time on campuses promoting something that’s 21 and above.”