Gas Station Drugs: Tianeptine, 7-OH, Phenibut, Kava

Most “gas station drugs” sold as wellness shots, focus pills or legal highs are opioids or sedatives with a supplement label. Tianeptine (“gas station heroin”) and concentrated 7-OH act on the same receptor as heroin and fentanyl. Phenibut acts like GHB. Kava tonics such as Feel Free often contain more kratom than kava. The main dangers are the familiar ones: overdose when mixed with other depressants, dependence within weeks of daily use, and withdrawal that can need hospital care. Delta-8 edibles and mushroom gummies add a different problem: labels you cannot trust. What protects you is naloxone within reach, never mixing depressants, and tapering off rather than stopping cold.

Quick answers

What is gas station heroin? Usually tianeptine, sold as Zaza, Tianaa or Neptune’s Fix. It is an antidepressant in some countries that also activates the mu-opioid receptor. The FDA advises against using any tianeptine product.

Is 7-OH the same as kratom? No. Kratom leaf contains only traces of 7-hydroxymitragynine. 7-OH tablets and shots are chemically concentrated and act as a strong opioid.

Does naloxone work on tianeptine and 7-OH? Both act on the mu-opioid receptor, so naloxone should reverse the opioid effect. It will not reverse phenibut, alcohol, benzos, or synthetic cannabinoids found in some tianeptine bottles, so call 911 as well.

Is phenibut dangerous? Yes, in overdose and in withdrawal. About half of reported overdoses needed a breathing tube.

Is Feel Free addictive? It contains kratom, and people report dependence. A class action over the undisclosed risk settled for $8.75 million in 2025.

What each product really is

7-OH and kratom

7-OH is not kratom. Tablets and shots sold as “kratom extract” contained 22 to 75 mg of 7-OH per gram, levels only reachable by chemical processing, while lacking most of the leaf’s other alkaloids (PMID 41065466). A 2025 review found 7-OH is a mu-opioid agonist often more potent than morphine, with breathing depression, tolerance and dependence in animal studies, and state health departments reporting severe poisonings and deaths (PMID 41275505).

The law is catching up slowly. The DEA announced a temporary Schedule I ban on 7-OH above a set threshold in July 2026. Three synthetic relatives became Schedule I on August 26, 2026, but as of early September the 7-OH order itself had not been published, so products may still be on shelves.

Kratom leaf is milder but not inert. In a 12-person clinical study, a 2 g kratom tea raised blood levels of midazolam, a drug cleared by the liver enzyme CYP3A, by about 40 percent (PMID 36924284). Many medications and some benzos use that pathway, so kratom can make them stronger. It had no measurable effect on CYP2D6. Kratom causes dependence with daily use. Seizures are often attributed to it, but a 2025 review found almost no cases with confirmed kratom levels (PMID 41170377); that review was written by a consulting firm.

Tianeptine: “gas station heroin”

Tianeptine is prescribed as an antidepressant in parts of Europe, Asia and Latin America, but it is also a full mu-opioid receptor agonist (PMID 25026323). At the doses people take from gas station bottles, it behaves like an opioid.

• Poison center reports rose 1,400 percent from 2015 to 2023. Of 892 single-substance cases, 22.9 percent needed intensive care and 22.5 percent involved withdrawal (PMID 39724478).
• A 2026 systematic review of 53 publications found overdose presentations with respiratory failure and muscle breakdown, and death in 7 of 22 detailed overdose cases. Some people with withdrawal needed buprenorphine or methadone (PMID 42177839).
• The bottle may not be what it says. In New Jersey, 34 people became seriously ill from Neptune’s Fix, and 43 percent needed a breathing tube. Some bottles contained the synthetic cannabinoids MDMB-4en-PINACA and ADB-4en-PINACA, plus kava and THC, none of it disclosed (PMID 40102319).

If you use tianeptine daily, do not stop abruptly. Withdrawal looks like opioid withdrawal and can be severe; a doctor or addiction clinic can help you taper or switch to buprenorphine.

Phenibut

Phenibut acts on GABA-B receptors, the same target as GHB and the muscle relaxant baclofen. It is sold online and in some shops as a sleep or anxiety supplement. A systematic review of 62 hospital cases found (PMID 37579098):

• 48.7 percent of overdose cases needed intubation, with confusion, heavy sedation, psychosis and movement problems.
• 63 percent involved another drug, most often benzos or alcohol.
• Withdrawal came almost entirely from daily use (95.7 percent), causing anxiety, agitation, insomnia and psychosis. Most of those cases needed several medications, and hospital stays averaged nearly eight days.

Never mix phenibut with alcohol, benzos, GHB or opioids. Our GHB guide explains why stacking these drugs is so dangerous.

Kava and Feel Free

Traditional kava drinks are relaxing and mostly low risk, but concentrated extracts have rare reports of severe liver injury (PMID 27092496). Watch for yellow skin or eyes, dark urine, or pain under the right ribs.

Feel Free, the two-ounce tonic sold at 7-Eleven and gas stations, contains more kratom than kava. US Marshals seized nearly 250,000 bottles for the FDA in 2023, and a class action alleging hidden addiction risk settled for $8.75 million in 2025. A six-day trial paid for by the manufacturer found no serious problems (PMID 39807458), but six days is too short to show dependence, which is what users report.

Delta-8 and mushroom gummies

Delta-8, delta-10 and THC-O accounted for 5,022 US poison center cases in 2021 and 2022. 38.4 percent had a serious medical outcome, most often sedation, a racing heart or agitation, and 30 percent involved children under 6 who ate edibles (PMID 38686923). Start low, wait two hours before more, and store edibles like medication.

Mushroom and Amanita gummies are routinely mislabeled. In Portland smoke shops, gummies labeled as Amanita contained no muscimol but did contain psilocin and synthetic tryptamines (PMID 39977248). Diamond Shruumz products were linked to 180 poisonings, 73 hospitalizations and 2 deaths (PMID 41955162). Our shroom gummies guide and psilocybin guide cover what to do if you have one.

How to stay safer

1. Know the class. Opioid (7-OH, tianeptine, kratom), sedative (phenibut, kava) or unknown (gummies). That decides every other precaution.
2. Keep naloxone nearby if you use 7-OH or tianeptine, and never use alone. Never Use Alone: 1-800-484-3731.
3. Never mix depressants. Alcohol, benzos, GHB, phenibut and opioids multiply each other’s effect on breathing. Check pairs in our interaction checker.
4. Watch daily use. Dependence on tianeptine, 7-OH, kratom and phenibut builds within weeks. Taper with help rather than stopping cold.
5. Treat labels as guesses. Neptune’s Fix and Diamond Shruumz both contained undisclosed drugs.

If someone will not wake up or is breathing slowly: call 911, give naloxone, and put them on their side. Poison Control is 1-800-222-1222 for anything less urgent.

The bottom line

Gas station drugs are mostly opioids and sedatives sold as supplements, and the harms follow: overdose when mixed, dependence with daily use, and products that contain things the label does not mention. If you were looking for something that feels like molly, none of these will; our gas station molly guide covers the benzofurans and kanna that are sold that way.

Sources

PMID 41065466 | PMID 41275505 | PMID 36924284 | PMID 41170377 | PMID 25026323 | PMID 39724478 | PMID 42177839 | PMID 40102319 | PMID 37579098 | PMID 27092496 | PMID 39807458 | PMID 38686923 | PMID 39977248 | PMID 41955162 | DEA 7-OH scheduling announcement | FDA tianeptine warning | CNN on Feel Free