ATLANTA — A Georgia representative is calling for aggressive steps to stop the sale of so-called “gas station heroin.”
The highly addictive substance is mixed into products often sold at convenience stores.
The supplement has been linked to overdoses, seizures, and even deaths.
While tianeptine is banned in Georgia, drug treatment counselors say it can be found in stores and online.
That’s why U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick told Channel 2′s Tom Regan that the federal government needs to do more to crack down on the sale of tianeptine.
“You’re talking about a drug that we know has addictive qualities. We know for a fact that it’s killed people,” McCormick said.
McCormick, who is also a doctor, said tianeptine is a dangerous and highly addictive synthetic compound.
The opioid-like supplement is found in over-the-shelf products like Neptune’s Fix, Zaza and Tianna Red.
It’s often promoted as a stress reliever and anti-depressant.
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“This drug doesn’t have any useful qualities with medical effect that could actually qualify as a beneficial drug,” McCormick said.
Addiction counselor Kim Castro told Regan that three of her clients who used tianeptine, wound up seriously ill.
“It’s bad. Really bad,” Castro said. “Sometimes they will get sick in the stomach first, then they will have a seizure. But all three had to go to the hospital.”
“This is like heroin times 1,000. And it’s very devastating. It’s life destroying,” former tianeptine user Alyssa Wood said.
Once addicted, some say they spent hundreds of dollars a week on the so-called supplement.
“It’s like a demon coming out of me as I started withdrawing,” said Michele, a former tianeptine user who asked only to be identified by her first name.
The FDA has repeatedly warned consumers not to use products containing tianeptine citing more cases of seizures, loss of consciousness and death.
McCormick recently joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers who sent a letter to the FDA to work with the Drug Enforcement Administration to label tianeptine an illegal substance.
“We had the ‘Zombie drug.’ We’ve had other drugs with opioid-like qualities. So this isn’t the first found and this won’t be the last,” McCormick said.
The Georgia Poison Center said in the last two years, they have helped doctors treat patients who overdosed on tianeptine.
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