6 Aug 29th-Sept 4th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Toxic Tea? Gilbert man suing kratom company after wife’s death. BY MORGAN FISCHER O n a fateful Sunday morning in September 2022, Cullen Logan woke up at his desk. He’d been up most of the night at his computer studying for a cybersecurity certification. Groggy, he made his way to the bedroom to check on his wife of four years. He found her in bed — dead. Jennifer Pinney was 32 years old. Two years later, only bits and pieces of that awful day survive in Logan’s memory. He recalls a police officer coming to the door of the couple’s Gilbert home and holding him as he cried. He remembers sitting in the backyard and feeling “some- body touch my back like (Pinney) would.” No one was there. Logan and Pinney had been in each other’s lives since they were teenagers, turning an online friendship into a real- life romance. In 2018, they married in a small ceremony at Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. Pinney — “a little 4-foot-11 ball of fireworks,” as Logan described her — walked down the aisle to the delicate piano strokes of “Shrike” by Hozier. Logan called that moment his “personal dust storm.” But now Pinney was dead, and the explanation for her death has hardly put Logan at peace. An autopsy revealed that Pinney died of mitragynine toxicity. Mitragynine happens to be the main ingredient in kratom, a legal substance Pinney had been using for years to combat her anxiety. Unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration, kratom can be found in smoke shops in Arizona and across the country and also can be purchased online. Pinney and Logan had researched it together, looking for an alternative to phar- maceutical drugs. Pinney purchased kratom powder from Viable Solutions, an Idaho-based company whose marketing materials showcase the substance in wooden bowls, giving the illusion of an all- natural, healthy product. For three years, Pinney drank it like tea. One night, it killed her. That’s according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Logan against Viable Solutions on July 26 in Maricopa County Superior Court. Though Logan would not discuss the court case in an interview with Phoenix New Times, his suit accuses the company of misleadingly marketing a “highly addictive and dangerous drug” as a “safe herbal remedy.” As a result, the suit claimed, Pinney became “dependent” on kratom. Until she died from it. “That cornerstone in your life, that support mechanism that you kind of always leaned on,” Logan said, “was gone.” Legal and unregulated Kratom is derived from the leaves of a tree found in Southeast Asia, and in the eyes of multiple federal agencies, the product exists in a legally fuzzy area. The FDA doesn’t regulate kratom. The Drug Enforcement Agency tried to ban it in 2016, but that effort was met with push- back from Congress, including from then- U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, a Republican from Arizona. While Kratom remains legal in most states, six — Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont — have banned it. The FDA has warned consumers not to use kratom, but companies that manufac- ture and sell the product are given wide latitude in how they market it. On the “What is Kratom” page of Viable Solution’s website, kratom is described as coming from “a tropical evergreen tree in the coffee family” that has “been used for centuries as an herbal supplement in tradi- tional medicine.” The site also lists several documents and studies, all of which paint a generally positive picture of the drug. Logan’s suit said the company’s kratom products were pitched with phrases such as “all you’ll need for a relaxing night after a long day,” “floaty and mellow” and “to unwind and ease into a state of tranquility.” Viable Solutions does post a disclaimer about kratom on its website. A “Botanical Facts” image that accompanies each product provides a suggested use section and disclaimer that its products are “not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition.” Deeper within the site, hidden under the 16th tab of its FAQ page, the company acknowledges that “some products may even be toxic” and urges customers to “do your research and consult with your medical professional before buying any of these products.” The company has not responded to a request for comment. But the degree of danger kratom pres- ents is difficult to know. Few clinical trials or test have been conducted on humans. The little that is known about the drug’s safety or health benefits comes from studies conducted on rats or ones that examined only short periods of human consumption, not long-term use such as Pinney’s. What’s more certain is that a lot of people use it. Because kratom can produce opioid- and stimulant-like effects, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it’s fairly popular. Experts estimate that between 5 million and 20 million Americans use kratom each year. Some use it recreationally, while others turn to it to combat anxiety or depression, for pain management or as a replacement for opioids. If Pinney had become dependent on kratom, that’s not uncommon, said C. Michael White, a professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Connecticut. According to White, kratom has an Cullen Logan (right) said he’s been unable to work since the 2022 death of his wife, Jennifer Pinney. Viable Solutions markets its kratom powders with phrases like “all you’ll need for a relaxing night after a long day,” “floaty and mellow” and “to unwind and ease into a state of tranquility.” (Photos by Cullen Logan and Matt Hennie) | NEWS | >> p 8
