Man says his drink can cure insomnia, alcoholism, PTSD. Feds say it’s dangerous
The federal government is attempting to stop a Massachusetts man accused of selling a cure-all drink powder online that it alleges is unsafe, according to officials.
The man, a resident of West Boylston, a town about 50 miles west of Boston, sells several flavors of a “Chill6” drink powder directly to customers online, according to an Oct. 19 release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
The man could not be reached for comment by McClatchy News.
His website claims the substance can cure a variety of illnesses and disorders, including insomnia, anxiety, alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the release. The product contains Phenibut HCL, an “unsafe food additive,” feds say.
After receiving a warning letter from the FDA over a year ago, the man continued to sell Chill6 powders online, according to the release. The Department of Justice has now requested an injunction that would stop the man from selling the reportedly dangerous product in its current form. It alleges its sale violates the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
Chill6 does not “meet the necessary safety guidelines for human consumption,” U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins for the District of Massachusetts said in the release. “[A]nd even after being warned, [the man] continued distributing this unapproved substance. Be it by criminal offense or civil violation, we are committed to ending the distribution of unregulated and adulterated supplements.”
The Chill6 website states that Phenibut, the compound flagged by the government, is a “wonderful amino acid derivative” that has been “used safely in Russia for over 50 years.”
The site adds that “pure phenibut however, or too much, too often does possess a withdrawal potential from mild, to very unpleasant.”
The FDA states on its website that the online marketplace is awash with potentially dangerous products, and adds that consumers should avoid a list of goods they compiled, including specific “weight loss, sexual enhancement, body building, sleep aid, and pain relief products.”
The FDA regulates thousands of products across the country, including roughly 78% of the food supply and 20,000 prescription drugs, according to its website. Though their approval does not necessarily guarantee a product’s safety, as a 2017 Yale School of Medicine study found that almost a third of drugs approved by the agency from 2001 to 2010 were later found to have safety issues.
Researchers noted that most of the concerns were “not serious enough to require withdrawal of a drug from the market.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2022 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Man says his drink can cure insomnia, alcoholism, PTSD. Feds say it’s dangerous."