Selank withdrawal: dependence, benzodiazepines, and alcohol

The short answer: nobody has studied selank withdrawal. The human research on selank consists of a few small, short Russian anxiety studies, and none of them measured dependence, tolerance or what happens when people stop. [2] The claim that selank causes no withdrawal, unlike benzodiazepines, is plausible but unproven. The claim that it treats withdrawal from benzodiazepines, alcohol or opioids rests on rat studies and one open add-on study. [5]

This Q&A covers what the studies measured. It is not a guide to stopping any medicine. If you take a benzodiazepine, do not stop or swap it without your prescriber.

Does selank cause withdrawal?

We found no study, human or animal, designed to test selank dependence or withdrawal.

What the clinical studies did report is limited:

• In 62 patients with generalized anxiety disorder or neurasthenia, selank relieved anxiety about as much as the benzodiazepine medazepam over a short course. The study compared effects during treatment, not after stopping. [2]
• In 60 patients with anxiety and somatoform disorders, the authors reported that selank's anti-anxiety effect lasted about a week after the last dose. [4]

A lingering effect after stopping is sometimes read as a sign of no rebound. That is an inference. Rebound anxiety and withdrawal need to be measured directly, with structured symptom scales after a planned stop, in people who used the drug for long enough to develop dependence. No selank study has done that. The courses studied were short, and the people using research-labeled selank today may use it far longer.

How does selank compare with benzodiazepines on dependence?

The comparison is the main reason people search for selank withdrawal, so it helps to be precise about what is known on each side.

Benzodiazepines. In 2020 FDA required a boxed warning on the whole benzodiazepine class covering abuse, misuse, addiction, physical dependence and withdrawal reactions. FDA warned that continued use can lead to clinically significant physical dependence and that abrupt stopping or rapid dose reduction can cause withdrawal reactions that can be life threatening. [13]

Selank. The developers and later researchers propose that selank acts partly through the GABA system, the same target as benzodiazepines. A rat study found that selank and GABA changed the expression of many of the same neurotransmission genes, and the authors suggested selank may act as an allosteric modulator of GABA signaling. [6] A second proposed mechanism is slowing the breakdown of the body's own enkephalins. [1] A 2018 review summarizes both lines of evidence. [9]

That overlap cuts both ways. It is why selank is compared with benzodiazepines, and it is also why a 2021 review of GABA-acting drugs grouped selank with phenibut as poorly studied Russian drugs sold to US consumers, warning that chronic use of GABA-acting drugs can lead to significant withdrawal syndromes and that new GABA-active agents should be evaluated for abuse potential before public access. [11] For selank that evaluation has not happened. The honest answer to "is selank addictive" is that it has not been tested.

Can selank help with benzodiazepine withdrawal?

It has not been tested as a withdrawal treatment. Two studies are sometimes cited:

• Human, open label. Seventy patients with anxiety disorders took phenazepam alone or phenazepam plus selank. The combination group reported fewer benzodiazepine side effects, such as sedation, memory problems and fatigue, both during treatment and after the tranquilizer was withdrawn. [5] The study was small, not blinded, and not designed to measure withdrawal severity.
• Rats. Under chronic stress, rats given selank and diazepam together showed the lowest anxiety measures, and the authors framed selank as changing how benzodiazepines act. [8]

Neither supports using selank to come off a benzodiazepine. FDA advises that benzodiazepines be tapered gradually under a clinician's supervision. [13] Adding an unapproved peptide with proposed GABA effects to that process adds unknowns, not safety.

Selank and alcohol: withdrawal studies and the interaction question

The alcohol research is all in rodents, from one Moscow laboratory:

• Alcohol withdrawal in rats. Rats that drank alcohol for 24 weeks were put through a 48-hour withdrawal. A single selank injection removed withdrawal-induced anxiety in behavioral tests and prevented increased pain sensitivity, without changing how much alcohol the rats drank. [3]
• Alcohol stimulation in mice. Selank blocked the expression of alcohol-induced motor sensitization in mice. [7]
• Alcohol and memory in rats. In rats given alcohol for 30 weeks, a week of selank prevented alcohol-related memory and attention problems and was linked to changes in BDNF in the hippocampus and frontal cortex. [10]

None of these studies tested what happens when a person drinks while using selank. Our selank entity record lists additive effects with alcohol and other GABA-acting drugs as a theoretical interaction because of the proposed GABA mechanism. [9] Alcohol, benzodiazepines and other sedatives can be dangerous together, and an untested GABA-active peptide should be treated with the same caution. People with alcohol use disorder have approved, evidence-based treatments; the anxiety condition page lists standard care for the anxiety that often drives these searches.

Selank and opioid withdrawal

One rat study tested this. In morphine-dependent rats, a single injection of selank reduced an overall withdrawal score by 39.6%, somewhat less than diazepam did at 49.3%. [12] Selank has not been tested in people withdrawing from opioids, and our entity record flags a theoretical interaction with opioids because of its effect on enkephalin-degrading enzymes. Opioid withdrawal has approved medical treatments, and a rat study is no reason to use an unapproved peptide instead.

Is selank legal in the US?

Selank has no lawful route. FDA placed it on its 503A Category 2 list in 2023 and now lists it as a withdrawn nomination, which takes it off Category 2 without putting it on the bulks list. [14] It was not among the peptides the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee recommended on July 23 to 24, 2026. [15] The selank regulatory tracker records each step, and the legal hub covers state rules. The selank cost page explains why there is no lawful price.

Our guide to getting peptides prescribed lists the peptides that do have a lawful route, and what is peptide therapy explains how clinics use the term.

Where selank fits

If you are weighing selank against related compounds, see semax vs selank and selank vs noopept. For the route question and why no trial has tested semax and selank together, see our selank nasal spray explainer.

The bottom line

No study has measured selank dependence or withdrawal, in people or animals. Its proposed GABA mechanism is the reason it is compared with benzodiazepines, and the same reason its abuse and withdrawal potential should have been studied before it was sold. The withdrawal-treatment claims come from rodents and one small open study. If you are trying to stop a benzodiazepine, alcohol or opioids, a clinician can offer tapering plans and approved treatments with real evidence behind them.