Doctor Warns Against ‘Gas Station Heroin’ That Mimics Opioid Effects

Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

An antidepressant from the 1950s is now being marketed as an over-the-counter dietary supplement to treat depression, anxiety, and opiate withdrawal, which is causing concern among health care workers and lawmakers.

The drug, tianeptine, is sometimes called “gas station heroin” because of its opiate effects, difficulty to quit without withdrawal, and availability in gas stations.

Legislation is being considered in Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida to criminalize tianeptine, and it’s been banned for over-the-counter sale in other states such as Indiana, Alabama, and Tennessee, though it can still be ordered online.

Dr. Melissa Thompson with the Ivy Creek Detox Program at Elmore Community Hospital in Wetumpka, Alabama, said it can take up to a month for someone to become mentally stable again after detoxing from tianeptine.

“It’s very powerful, and it gets a hold of your mind,” Thompson told The Epoch Times.

Antidepressant Drugs

Tianeptine is classified as a tricyclic antidepressant. It was used in the 1950s before selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) became available in the 1980s with the introduction of Prozac, the brand name for fluoxetine.

Tricyclic antidepressants have immediate effects, unlike SSRIs, which can take several weeks to take effect.

Tianeptine is still used as an antidepressant in France and other European countries but is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the United States.

“You don’t have to take it for very long before you get physically dependent on it,” Thompson said. “Before you know it, you have to keep using it to keep from withdrawing. And when you do withdraw off it, it’s like you are withdrawing off two to three drugs at one time.”

Among the symptoms of withdrawal are involuntary muscle movements, nausea, anxiety, and a feeling of doom, Thompson said.

“It’s a very complicated, incapacitating withdrawal,” she said. “You won’t die from it, but you’ll want to.” opiate receptors in the brain.

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