Family of woman who died from ingesting kratom, a legal opioid-like herbal extract, awarded $11 million in damages

• A 39-year-old mother of four died in 2021 after ingesting kratom, a legal herbal extract.
• The seller, Kratom Distro, has now been ordered to pay her family and estate $11 million.

The family of a woman who died after ingesting a legal herbal extract with opioid-like effects has been awarded more than $11 million in damages.

Krystal Talavera, a 39-year-old mother of four, was found unconscious by her partner, Biagio Vultaggio, on June 20, 2021. Vultaggio called paramedics, who took Talavera to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Talavera was found lying next to an open bag of kratom, a herbal extract from Southeast Asia with opioid- and stimulant-like effects, per media reports and the family's lawyers.

In a Florida court ruling, seen by Insider, the drugs supplier, Kratom Distro, has been ordered to pay damages to Talavera's four children and estate in a wrongful-death lawsuit.

Talavera's cause of death was acute mitragynine intoxication, according to The Guardian, which cited The Palm Beach County Coroner. Mitragynine is a major component of kratom.

Kratom Distro did not fight the lawsuit, and the company's owner gave no comment on the judgment when approached by The Guardian.

Kratom Distro did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Kratom was banned by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2016, which classified it as a Schedule I drug alongside heroin, LSD, and marijuana, but the move was quickly overturned.

Schedule I drugs have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, and while there are currently no FDA-approved drugs containing kratom, it is sometimes used to self-treat pain, anxiety, and depression, as well as opioid withdrawal.

According to medical research, there could be as many as 16 million regular kratom users in the US.

A lack of federal regulation has led to a state-by-state approach to kratom. Half a dozen states have banned the herbal supplement, which is part of the same family as coffee, with lawmakers in Mississippi and Louisiana looking to follow suit.

The American Kratom Association has called for additional research. Kratom's safety and subsequent regulation should be determined through clinical trials, it said in a recent statement.

Talavera was introduced to kratom by friends years before her death, per The Guardian.

Her eldest son, Devin Filippelli, who graduated from high school a day before his mom's death, testified how the pair were due to have a celebratory dinner together the next day. He described how Talavera was the nucleus of the family and brought everyone together.

In his court ruling, finalized on Thursday and shared by the family's law firm, district judge Donald Middlebrooks said that "there is of course no amount of money that will make up for the pain and suffering that Ms. Talavera's children are enduring because of their mother's death. The law nonetheless recognizes that the Defendant must pay something, however inadequate."