The Last Week Tonight host dug into the unregulated ‘wild west’ of kratom, boner pills and ‘gas station heroin’
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n the latest Last Week Tonight, John Oliver focused on the rise of gas station drugs, the brightly colored bottles and pills that are sold at the registers of US convenience stores. Promising increased energy, pain relief or improved sexual performance, these unregulated products often contain tianeptine, a drug known as “gas station heroin”.
“While you might assume they’re just snake oil, that’s not necessarily true,” said Oliver. “Some of these drugs can be actively dangerous, presenting risks of addiction just like controlled substances.”
One such drug is the red-bottled Zaza, a synthetic product which mimics the effects of opioids and is sold as a legal alternative to narcotics in gas stations. After playing an interview clip from a former addict who once consumed 250 Zaza bottles a month, Oliver said: “There is so much that is alarming here. From the notion of a gas station having an opiate aisle, to the fact that that is too many tiny bottles of anything to go through in a month.”
