As more states ban the unapproved antidepressant with opioid-like effects known as “gas station heroin,” police are launching raids and undercover stings to bust the vendors still selling the drug.
Tianeptine isn’t a federally-scheduled drug in the U.S., but is often sold at gas stations, smoke shops, and convenience stores, illegally marketed as a dietary supplement or nootropic (a drug that can improve cognitive function). It works on a person’s opioid receptors and many users have told VICE News they’ve experienced excruciating withdrawal in between doses or when they’ve tried to stop using it.
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The drug has been banned in 11 states, most recently in Florida in September. As awareness about tianeptine, which is most commonly sold under brand names like Zaza, Pegasus, and Tianaa, has spread, law enforcement action against vendors has also increased. Now, cops have started going undercover to seize the drug and arrest people for selling it.
On November 7, the Tippah County Sheriff’s Department and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics arrested two people for selling tianeptine as part of an undercover operation that took place at a gas station off a highway, according to Tippah News. The joint operation resulted in police seizing 1,590 doses of Zaza and 40 ounces of liquid Zaza, as well as kratom, Viagra, a small amount of meth, two firearms, and over $8,000 in cash. Kratom is a federally unscheduled herbal supplement that can produce opioid and stimulant-like effects; some people have said it’s helpful for pain relief and easing anxiety. It’s banned in parts of Mississippi.
In October, just a few weeks after Florida enacted an emergency tianeptine ban, state authorities raided over 50 stores in 27 counties, seizing 653 packages of the drug, according to Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson. Authorities later seized and destroyed over 5,000 pounds of raw and packaged tianeptine from four distribution centers in the state.
“We will relentlessly pursue and use the full force of the law to combat the proliferation of narcotics and illicit substances that continue to be found across Florida,” Simpson said in a news release about the seizures.
Federal actions against tianeptine sellers, which are normally very rare, have also ramped up.
In September, a California man was convicted of smuggling tianeptine into the U.S. from China. In October, an Arizona chief executive officer of a company that sold tianeptine pled guilty to distributing drugs not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
While it’s unclear the long-term effect the bans will have on tianeptine users, being cut off from the drug suddenly could send people into withdrawal. Because tianeptine and its effects are relatively unknown, many users turn to Reddit for advice on how to detox from it.
John, a man from upstate New York who came off tianeptine in September using Reddit, told VICE News that some of the people in the r/QuittingTianeptine subreddit have turned to online sellers or crossed state lines to get more product when faced with a local ban.
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