Why This Controversial Herbal Substance Keeps Being At The Center Of Lawsuits

A family recently filed a lawsuit after a woman reportedly died in her sleep after taking a controversial herbal product that has taken over gas stations by storm.

Kratom is a supplement derived from a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia that is often utilized to self-treat conditions including pain, coughing, diarrhea, opioid use disorder and opioid withdrawal, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Over a year after Lauren Dominguez’s mother unexpectedly died at age 55, her family filed a lawsuit against a kratom product’s manufacturer and retailer, alleging that the product may have contributed to her death, ABC7 Chicago reported on Sept. 2.

The mother’s cause of death was acute mitragynine intoxication, with chronic alcohol use reported as a contributing factor, ABC7 Chicago reported, citing the coroner’s report. Mitragynine is one of the key compounds found in kratom products.

“The danger is that nobody knows what is actually in the kratom product,” Attorney Michael Jeandron, who represents Dominguez and her family, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Manufacturers mislead the public with words like ‘natural,’ ‘botanical’ and ‘herbal’ so people keep using it believing it is safe and healthy. Without regulation forcing them to stop, they will keep doing it. People deserve to know what is [in their] products.”

“If kratom continues to gain popularity, people will continue to be harmed, and the more people who are harmed, the more who will look to hold these manufacturers accountable,” Jeandron added. “If kratom is left unchecked by government regulation, the civil justice system is the only place left to do that, and that means more lawsuits … If fewer people are harmed, there is no need for more lawsuits.”

Jeandron went on to say that potentially unsafe kratom products are often used by “vulnerable” Americans.

“Sadly, kratom is being used by some of the most vulnerable people in our society,” he said. “Some are trying to break a dependence on something they know is bad for them and turn to kratom believing it is safe, only to find out they are worse off than when they started.”

Analysts previously told the DCNF that unregulated kratom products can lead to addiction, withdrawal symptoms and overdose among some users.