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‘Gas Station Heroin’ Is Causing Intense Withdrawals. It’s Legal in Most States.
Tianeptine is an antidepressant. But it’s being sold in the U.S., especially at gas stations, as a dietary supplement and functions like an opioid.
By Manisha Krishnan
December 12, 2022, 5:00am
A drug called tianeptine, known colloquially as “gas station heroin,” has been banned by several states. It’s being marketed as a dietary supplement, but some users are describing it as a highly addictive opioid.
Tianeptine is a tricyclic antidepressant used to treat depression in some European, Latin American, and Asian countries, but it’s not approved by the FDA for medical use in the U.S. It’s not a controlled substance and is typically sold in the U.S. as a dietary supplement, nootropic (a chemical that improves cognitive function), or a research chemical under brand names like ZaZa Red, TD Red, and Tianna. It can be found in gas stations or easily bought online.
Medical experts say tianeptine functions as an opioid because it hits opioid receptors in the brain, which explains why people have reported severe withdrawal when they try to stop using it.
“People are using it either to manage or withdrawal from harder, harsher stuff, or they're kind of starting their journey and developing an unhealthy relationship with it based on its effects—and its effects are opioid-like effects,” said Dr. Patrick Marshalek, an associate professor at West Virginia University’s School of Medicine.
There’s very little known about tianeptine, including how many people are using it, though reports from both the FDA and the DEA have noted upticks in poison control calls about the drug up until at least 2020. It’s been banned in Michigan, Alabama, Minnesota, Tennessee, Georgia, and Indiana; officials in Mississippi issued a health alert about it earlier this year.
Experts told VICE News the issues surrounding its use are part of a larger problem where unregulated substances mimic the effects of illicit drugs, despite being marketed in a benign way.
Medical experts say tianeptine functions as an opioid because it hits opioid receptors in the brain, which explains why people have reported severe withdrawal when they try to stop using it.
“People are using it either to manage or withdrawal from harder, harsher stuff, or they're kind of starting their journey and developing an unhealthy relationship with it based on its effects—and its effects are opioid-like effects,” said Dr. Patrick Marshalek, an associate professor at West Virginia University’s School of Medicine.
There’s very little known about tianeptine, including how many people are using it, though reports from both the FDA and the DEA have noted upticks in poison control calls about the drug up until at least 2020. It’s been banned in Michigan, Alabama, Minnesota, Tennessee, Georgia, and Indiana; officials in Mississippi issued a health alert about it earlier this year.
Experts told VICE News the issues surrounding its use are part of a larger problem where unregulated substances mimic the effects of illicit drugs, despite being marketed in a benign way.
Hunter Barnett, 26, who has a painful esophagus condition and has been addicted to opioids in the past, was skeptical that the tianeptine could be effective. But when he moved to Penscacola, Florida, from Alabama in January, he noticed that every time he went to the gas station, people were buying ZaZa Reds.
“I'm sitting there thinking it's a gas station, this shit ain’t gonna be any good,” he told VICE News.
Still, he bought some and eventually switched over to a brand called TD Red, which he described as feeling like a mix of Percocets and cocaine.
“They were amazing. Like wow it took away all the pain,” Barnett said. But within five days, he said he began upping his dose. While he started taking three at a time, every few hours, he can now take an entire bottle of 15 pills in one go.
“It was definitely one of the biggest mistakes in my life. I wish I would have never touched them,” he said.
Barnett said tianeptine’s effects wear off quickly. He would sometimes take them before bed and have to wake up in the middle of the night to take more to avoid going into withdrawal. He said he began going through three to six bottles a day, each costing $30.
He said he started working his job delivering groceries via Instacart every day but was still broke due to how much he was spending on the pills.
“I’ve spent about $50,000 since January on these,” he said.
When Barnett spoke to VICE News, he said he’d just come off a 10-day detox that was more difficult than when he came off opioids like oxycodone, fentanyl, and buprenorphine. He said he experienced nausea, sweats, vomiting, fever, body pain, and relentless chills.
“The withdrawal, I can honestly say, is the absolute worst experience of my life,” he said.
Kirsten Smith, a researcher with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said a couple factors impact the severe withdrawal: the incredibly high doses that some people are taking and the fact that many of these products include proprietary blends, so nobody really knows what’s inside them.
“Tianeptine is part of a broader story of people taking a bunch of crap and not knowing what they’re taking,” Smith said, adding that she hasn’t heard of any researchers buying tianeptine products and testing what’s in them, likely because it’s not on anyone’s radar.
Smith was lead author of a paper on Reddit posts about tianeptine from 2012-2020 that was published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse last year. She said 81 percent of posts likened tianeptine to an opioid, 83 percent mentioned addiction, and over 70 percent mentioned withdrawal. A subreddit called r/QuittingTianeptine has more than 3,800 members, with people sharing horror stories of their withdrawal and giving each other advice on how to get off the drug.
One online ad for ZaZa Red boasted that it’s “great for pain relief” and “provides a euphoric and energizing mood lift,” but noted, “ZaZa RED works on the same receptors as traditional opiates so Be Mindful!”
Another positioned tianeptine as an alternative to alcohol and weed, stating, “In just one capsule, your stress, your anxiety all melt away almost instantly.”
VICE News reached out to several manufacturers and retailers that sell tianeptine to ask for comment on the health concerns surrounding the drug but did not receive a response.
