What 'gas station heroin' feels like and why it’s leading to bans

somewhere near the painkillers in cold medicine you may see another substance at your local convenience store tianeptine the FDA urging consumers not to use it but it is still legal in many states and available at some smoke shops and gas stations according to America's poison control centers reported cases of exposure skyrocketed in the course of a decade from 4 in 2013 to 391 last year ABC's Reena Roy takes a deeper look at what's being called gas station heroin and the toll some families say it is taken on them why would they put something in a gas station or a store that you could just go in and purchase it's very invigorating um it's a distraction from reality it claims to promote relaxation and Euphoria an alluring promise with so many options of tianeptine to choose from whether it's at your local convenience store smoke shop or even online there have so many different kinds does this substance live up to its claim it's absolutely not happiness in a bottle tianeptine now banned in at least nine states earning the nickname gas station heroin for its opioidlike effects we chatted with a few former manufacturers of the most popular brands of tianeptine and he says like katom the ability to overdose is almost impossible with tianeptine and the News agencies making all these death claims are simply lies none of the manufacturers would go on camera with us out of fear of retaliation but insists the product is safe helpful even some people say that TM netin can actually help keep people off of opioids it's a very dangerous line of thinking we just pulled into our hometown there's a lot of memories here in Pinson Alabama for Christy Terry he was constantly pulling pranks on people in the passenger seat and brimming with pride for her son Jonathan as his childhood friend Lucy drives recalling his bright future at 19 years old Jonathan with a full ride at the University of Alabama at Birmingham was studying business and theater working in real estate close to getting [Music] licensed a [Music] goofball and big brother to his two sisters his own unique style and a favorite color teal the Avid skateboarder always wearing two chains and this ring engraved with crosses Jonathan's always had very strong faith in God he loved going and serving the homeless every Sunday for years he did that it's a ring christe now wears after Jonathan who was known to suffer from migraines came down with an especially bad one in February of 2019 she says he went to a nearby gas station looking for something to sooe his symptoms so why do you think he ended up buying tnf that day um he told his dad that they they had recommended him to him so I got out of bed and went to Jonathan's room and he was on the bed and he still had his computer up and he had um a plate with pach walls on it in the bed next to him and it was like he was in a deep sleep we didn't know at the time but he was already gone over the course of the night Jonathan had taken 12 of the 15 pills in that bottle of tea and the bottle suggested only two pills a day all I knew that he had took them pills for a headache but I had no idea that they would have took his life and to your knowledge he had never taken any drugs before no the autopsy report shows he choked on his own vomit in his system prescription medication for preventing migraines and seizures and a high level of tianeptine the medical examiner wrote that while there was no way of knowing what actually killed him he'd seen a similar amount of tianeptine in someone else's system before that person also died bedridden with grief for months one of her first big outings a trip to Montgomery coming face to face with the owner of Tiana the brand of tianeptine Jonathan had taken I have spoke to one fine lady here up front uh who's a poor mother that uh her son's passed away and and it breaks my heart he tried to say that um that my son probably had some kind of underlying uh uh allergy to his supplement there are other people that are are benefiting from this product and you know to just turn around and and start Banning products without having solid um meaning behind it then uh you know when where do we where does it stop at the University of Alabama at Birmingham the school Jonathan attended Dr William rushon who specializes in emerging drugs of abuse says he finds tianeptine contains few upsides with easy potential for addiction ttin is used as an anti-depressant in other countries however the more we learned about it is really it turns out that it hits the same receptors uh that opio hit tnp now banned in Alabama no longer available in convenience stores but until 2023 in neighboring Mississippi sales continued this is one of the few videos Tracy Harper Morrison has of her 29-year-old son Christopher he died almost exactly four years after Jonathan I remember him telling me that he felt closest to God Outdoors you know nature he loved nature he played guitar he loved his guitar and you said one of the songs that you used to sing with him was You Are My Sunshine I tell him to play me something calm and he just kind of pick it out he and his sister were close they both struggled with addiction to tianeptine Christopher seeking a way to fight his depression and while struggling with Cravings last February his mom gave him a pep talk I told him I was going to cash app him some money and said go downstairs there's a coffee shop under the house I said go downstairs just sit there and enjoy being around people it would be the last time she'd hear from him finding him in his apartment days later and I went into and there he was he'd been there a couple of days I laid down with him and I scratched his back and I rubbed his hair he always wanted me to play with my hair Mama scratched my back and I did one last time and I gave him back to God the toxicology report came back tianeptine was in his system when we went back and picked up Christopher's Ash say I stopped at the store where he bought it and I asked him if he recognized Christopher could had his picture he said yeah yeah I said you buy some of this stuff and pointed to the TN te he said I said he's dead even a child could go to a convenience store and purchase um the substance so I had to educate uh many of my colleagues about what it was months later tianeptine would be banned in Miss Mississippi Christopher's mother and grandmother standing next to the governor for the Bill's signing it was a Bittersweet day his death will actually help to save lives in the future at our nation's capital A bipartisan group of five Representatives sent a letter to the FDA calling for a more National approach to see if tnep should be reclassified under the Controlled Substances Act we reached out to the FDA asking if it plans to toughen regulation toward tianeptine or katom a similar product widely sold it said in part we've issued warning letters to companies unlawfully marketing katum and tianeptine products as dietary supplements and drugs we will continue to collaborate with Federal Partners to engage proactively in meaningful research to advance science-based regulatory decision-making when do you feel like you'll be able to rest oh I won't rest until it is banned nationally but for now a simple search showed us how easy it still is to buy tnp online and even with a quick trip to a New York City smoke shop you had this new car and you racked up a ton of Miles because you were driving all the way from Alabama to Mississippi where it wasn't banned I had about 40,000 Mi on the car um about a year and a few months later we had 880,000 Mi so in a little over a year we put 40,000 Mi on my car Hannah Gilliam is now 2 years sober from tnp you know I was going through $50 a day if I was taking two bottles a day so $350 a week what did those withdrawal symptoms feel like it was it was miserable um I've withdrawed from um heroin I've withdrawed from pain pills I've withdraw you know pain pills I Rec with fit andol and they don't they don't even measure close to what those paint what those withdrawals from tnp Team felt like was it surprising to you that withdrawal could be that severe even compared to heroin when I started doing them I was like there's no way that they're this bad for you if they're selling them over the counter I didn't think that I would live to c21 I was either going to stay in active addiction until I died or not be alive for my 21st Hannah now 22 years old and in nursing school strengthened by her faith grateful for a new [Music] beginning it gives me a sense of Peace being able to decorate it cuz I feel like that still being able to Mother him but it gives me a sense of still being able to take care of him no mother should ever have to put their J and no friend should have to come and visit a grave I don't want any other mother to go through what I'm going through cuz it's a pain about nothing else love you raising such important awareness we are thinking of that family hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 35,198

Keywords: abc, addiction, antidepression, drug, drugs, fda, gas, heroin, live, makers, news, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-108725043, prime, station, tianptine

Id: hQgQHgeA8K4

Length: 10min 51sec (651 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 02 2024