Friends found 23-year-old dead after taking supplement, GA lawsuit says. What’s kratom?
After 23-year-old Ethan Pope took a supplement commonly sold in stores, his friends found him dead in his home, according to his family’s lawsuit.
Pope’s parents say the supplement — kratom — killed him on Dec. 3. He bought kratom at two shops in Georgia days before his death, a complaint filed Oct. 25 states.
At a news conference in Atlanta on Oct. 27, Dana and John Pope discussed their son’s death and said they found a to-do list in his apartment that said, “Stop taking kratom,” the Associated Press reported.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation found that Ethan Pope died from mitragynine intoxication, or “death by kratom,” according to the complaint. He did not have alcohol or any other substances in his body.
Mitragyna speciosa, or kratom, is a plant native to Southeast Asia. The Food and Drug Administration says it can expose those who consume it to “risks of addiction, abuse and dependence,” and warns against using it.
Dana and John Pope are accusing several defendants — including a company that makes the specific kratom product Ethan Pope bought before he died — of negligence, resulting in their son’s wrongful death. Their lawsuit demands a trial by jury.
Kratom is particularly popular with teenagers and can be bought in various forms, including drinks and pill products, attorneys representing the Popes told McClatchy News.
In 27 states, kratom, which is often sold as a dietary or herbal supplement, was responsible for the deaths of 91 people from July 2016 to December 2017, according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2019.
“The kratom industry hides behind pseudoscience and well-funded interest groups that peddle kratom as a miracle drug,” Drew Ashby, one of the attorneys representing the parents, said in a statement. “They try to keep the public from finding out that kratom is highly addictive and deadly.”
The case
The Popes’ attorneys told McClatchy News that this product is sold at gas stations and smoke shops nationwide.
Another attorney, Matt Wetherington, calls kratom “gas station heroin.”
“You don’t expect to go into a store and find something similar to heroin between energy drinks and breath mints,” Wetherington said.
Ethan Pope bought O.P.M.S. Black Liquid Kratom, which is made by Optimized Plant Mediated Solutions, at a tobacco shop in Peachtree City and a Chevron gas station in Rome before his death, according to the complaint.
O.P.M.S. is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The company did not respond to McClacthy News’ request for comment on Monday, Oct. 31.
The company calls itself an “industry-leading supplier” of Kratom online.
“O.P.M.S. Kratom liquid shots are particularly dangerous because they are intended to provide consumers with higher concentrations of mitragynine, substantially increasing the risk of overdose and death,” the complaint states.
Another defendant named in the lawsuit is the American Kratom Association (AKA), which says it wants to protect Americans’ right to consume kratom safely and legally online.
The lawsuit, however, argues the AKA has people “rely on the false, misleading, and materially incomplete medical claims” about kratom.
An attorney representing the AKA, Daniel Dalnero, said the organization is dedicated to educating the public about the responsible use of the supplement and “was improperly added to this lawsuit,” according to a statement provided to McClatchy News on Nov. 1.
“We will vigorously defend the spurious claims against it,” Dalnero added.
The AKA has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, according to a news release.
The complaint notes that the AKA’s website links to O.P.M.S. webpages, advertising the company’s kratom products as “safe.”
More about kratom
After taking kratom, users may feel effects similarly experienced by those who take opioids and stimulants, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Some people consume the supplement to manage drug withdrawals, pain and mental health conditions, the agency says.
It can cause heightened energy and alertness and increase heart rate, according to the agency. Additionally, it can help people relax and reduce pain.
Known side effects include nausea, constipation, dizziness and more, NIDA says.
Kratom is not an opioid, but it “affects the same opioid brain receptors as morphine,” according to the FDA.
The supplement is not FDA-approved, and the agency has received “concerning reports” about its safety.
Ashby told McClatchy News that while the FDA prohibits the importation of kratom from outside the U.S., distributors are still bringing it in.
From 2011 to 2017, the national poison center reporting database recorded 1,807 calls regarding kratom exposure, according to the CDC’s 2019 report.
Ultimately, scientists are still trying to fully understand kratom, as research on the drug is “relatively new,” according to NIDA.
The Popes’ lawsuit is seeking to recover a range of damages, including the costs of the lawsuit and Ethan Pope’s funeral.
They are being represented by the Wetherington Law Firm, based in Atlanta, and Ashby | Thelen | Lowry based in Marietta.
This story was originally published October 31, 2022 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Friends found 23-year-old dead after taking supplement, GA lawsuit says. What’s kratom?."
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