You bring up a lot of valid points.
The safety one is definitely true and I totally agree with it. Vendors would much rather sell RCs that are unlikely to kill their customers because that would bring attention to them. Now there are some exceptions but most are either carried by few vendors, only available to select customers or something similar. The nbomes are the only ones that currently come to mind that are both dangerous and widely available (selling them in blotter form does reduce the danger, but even powder sources aren't that rare). But even then a few vendors specifically refused to sell them citing safety and legal reasons (legal reasons applied to UK vendors since it's possible for the parent 2cs to remain as synthesis impurities.... moot point now since even the nbomes are illegal in the UK).
Are they recreational or not is really more of a personal opinion, some people find them recreational, some don't. I personally do find most of them recreational, but can understand why some people don't.
I don't know much about the exact biochemistry of the receptors which is why I asked about them in the first place. Wikipedia has an article about GABA reuptake inhibitors but it's really short and doesn't really explain how they work but just lists the possible effects and some compounds (unfortunately most of them don't have their own article).
I am curious as to which compound you are referring as a GHB alternative? The only ones that come to mind are either also mostly illegal in many places (GBL, 1,4-BDO) or supposedly not nearly as recreational (GHV, GVL) according to the few reports that are available online. Or did you have something else in mind? I guess you could also call alcohol a GHB alternative since it does feel very similar, but unfortunately has much worse side effects (hangovers, higher toxicity, ..). It would probably be more fair to say that GHB is what alcohol should have been. And yes, I'm a bit partial to GHB because I've had many great experiences with it and no negative ones (imo taking known doses, not trying to prove anything by taking more and more and not taking it 24/7 avoids most of it's negatives or at least it does for me).
Yes, I've read the phenazepam stories. It's a fun read if you're not involved in them, but a shitty experience for those involved. I a large part of the problem was that phenazepam was sold as powder, was really cheap, insoluble in water/vodka, had a long come up and was active in mg doses. Really not a good combination for most people. I think the vendors learned their lesson with that and now sell benzos mostly in pellet form. Which makes unintentional overdoses harder (one can still of course take a few, not give a fuck and eat the rest).
I agree about ethanol and it's market share being hard to beat, especially since it's so easy (all you need is some yeast and sugar) to make, legal, relatively safe in moderation, has a built in anti addiction feature (aka hangover) and has been part of our culture since well forever. Tbh, I wasn't aware that phenibut has a large market share, at least not where I live.
And yes, I'm aware of the dangers of gabaergics, none of them are totally safe, sure some are less toxic than others, but all have the possibility to be very addictive (it is avoidable with proper use, but still).
I'll admit that the main reason I want more research in gabaergics is because I enjoy them and would like it if eventually a safe non addictive non tolerance building one was discovered and remained legal. And yes, I'm aware that I'm probably more likely to win the lottery than see something like this happen. But one can still hope...
Or if GHB got legalized again, that would be almost as good (like I said, I'm partial to it), but is another pipe dream.
