Octavio Jones for VICE Information
Florida has turn out to be the newest state to ban tianeptine, an unapproved drug that’s been dubbed “fuel station heroin” as a result of it causes opioid-like withdrawal in some customers and is obtainable at fuel stations and comfort shops.
Lawyer Common Ashley Moody introduced an emergency ban on tianeptine final Thursday, making it a Schedule I drug, which means it’s a felony to own, promote, and use within the state.
“We filed an emergency rule to outlaw tianeptine, an especially harmful chemical being bought at fuel stations, comfort shops and smoke retailers in our state. Tianeptine is linked to 5 deaths nationwide. And thus far this yr, Florida’s Poison Management Heart has fielded 15 calls about publicity to this drug,” Moody stated in a video assertion launched Sept. 21.
Generally bought beneath model names like Zaza, Tianaa, and Pegasus, or in powder type on-line, tianeptine acts on an individual’s opioid receptors and isn’t authorised for medical use by the Meals and Drug Administration. However it’s not a federally scheduled drug.
Tianeptine is regulated and used as a tricyclic antidepressant in over 60 nations, however the variations bought within the U.S. aren’t regulated, and customers have reported turning into shortly hooked on it and going into extreme withdrawal after a couple of hours. Withdrawal signs embody nausea, chills, sleeplessness, stressed legs, and excessive anxiousness.
Alabama, Tennessee, Minnesota, Georgia, Oklahoma, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Mississippi have already banned tianeptine.
Whereas Florida’s ban is non permanent, Moody stated she’ll work to make it everlasting in Florida’s subsequent legislative session.
In March, VICE Information traveled to Jacksonville to spend time with Kristin and Jason, a pair who used to make use of painkillers and had turn out to be severely hooked on tianeptine in the previous few years. Jason made each day two-hour spherical journeys on foot to native smoke retailers to buy the drug. On the time, Kristin, a mom of 5, stated she feared that if the drug have been to be banned she would begin utilizing opioids once more.
“I need them to ban them and get them gone however I don’t as a result of it might have an effect on me deeply,” Kristin beforehand informed VICE Information. “I do not know if I might even dwell via withdrawal from it.”
“The extremely addictive nature, extreme withdrawal signs, and unregulated quantity, efficiency, and purity of this ‘fuel station heroin’ can lead customers to turn out to be dependent or again to opioids and different illicit medicine,” reads Florida’s emergency ban.
In September, VICE Information spoke to a person who was detoxing off tianeptine at house based mostly on a protocol he discovered on Reddit, the place many tianeptine customers assist one another. The person ended up in hospital however managed to cease utilizing the drug.
He stated he thinks the state bans will both power individuals into withdrawal or they are going to begin buying tianeptine on-line or cross state strains to acquire it.
