Never knew that as in Etizolam is illegal. Read many reviews about it on the net saying how good it is for anxiety so interesting you say that it is not really that different from other benzos.
It's absolutely incredible for anxiety, that's because it's (essentially) just another benzodiazepene. It might have a different chemical profile, but it works on the same receptors and can be used interchangeably.
^Pretty mch every psychoactive substance is illegal in the UK, iirc even L-Theanine is illegal.
It's very much a grey and ambiguous area, but to my knowledge L-Theanine isn't currently regulated, or targeted. Obviously any kind of tryptamine/phenethylamine/clearly psychoactive stim/psych/empathogen is definitely not allowed. But L-Theanine and many other supplements are still widely available (and as powders) from even the likes of amazon, whilst supplements such as racetam nootropics are no longer widely sold within the UK, even though they are about as psychoactive as the likes of L-Theanine.
It seems to me like anything which occurs naturally in nature (even if the actual product was made in a lab), is available, whereas people are less likely to take the risk with man made nootropic style supplements.
OP: The effectiveness of supplements seems to vary from person to person. I didn't get much from l-theanine at all, but did from others. Other people find the opposite.
I'm currently taking Ashwagandha, Niacian (nicotinic acid), and Rhodeola Rosea and they are really helping with anxiety and depression.
I tend to find that they are different to benzos in the sense that you don't come up and twenty minutes later you don't have a worry in your life, but slowly seem to regulate and balance anxiety/depression so that over the course of a few days or even weeks, a steady intake will reduce symptoms by a degree or two.
If you find L-Theanine helps, take it. There is no dangerous interaction with benzos to my knowledge; at least this is my personal experience, and I'm yet to see warnings to the contrary. The best resource for information on the effectiveness of supplements is:
https://examine.com
