Lethal mix of alcohol, kratom killed adult entertainer Christian Styles

Theresa Braine, New York Daily News on Sep 15, 2026

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Heavy drinking and excessive amounts of kratom, a variety of so-called gas station heroin, killed adult film star Christian Styles, whose parents found him dead last week during a welfare check.

“Alcohol and mitragynine toxicity” caused the 29-year-old influencer’s death, the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office in Michigan told the Daily News by email on Tuesday. Styles, given name Zachary Christian Jaghab, had a blood alcohol level of 0.168 when he died, with caffeine and numerous other drugs also in his system, TMZ reported, citing the medical examiner’s office.

Mitragynine is an alkaloid that occurs in trace amounts in the leaves of the kratom tree, Mitragyna speciosa, prevalent in Southeast Asia. It has been used there for centuries as a home remedy, mostly in rural areas, where people chew the leaves or make them into tea. In the U.S., kratom is often processed to increase the concentration of mitragynine and its derivatives, and health officials have long warned of potentially harmful side effects.

Kratom and similar products are ubiquitous in CBD retail outlets, gas station convenience stores, smoke shops, and online, sold as pills, tablets, powders, highly concentrated liquid extracts and tinctures, and gummy candies, according to Yale Medicine. There are also synthetic versions that are considered potentially dangerous.

The “gas station heroin” moniker mainly applies to tianeptine, an antidepressant prescribed in numerous countries outside the U.S. but not approved here. But kratom and similar substances fall under that general umbrella because they share some characteristics with the synthetic drug.

Styles had begun working in the adult entertainment realm in 2021, garnering more than a million followers of his explicit content across social media and on OnlyFans.

The autopsy report TMZ obtained indicated he had abused drugs for 13 years and in the past had been a heavy user of heroin and meth. Styles had also overdosed in the past and had run-ins with the law, TMZ reported, noting that the report stated he’d recently been on a bender.

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