It’s always fun to take a gander at the odd collection of “health supplements” being sold at your local gas station, either by the counter or tucked away in a darkened corner aisle where someone was shot once.
Only there will you find the choicest selection of shady neon green boner pills with names like Rhino Force Max and brain supplements filled exclusively with banned cleaning products. Your local gas station is also where you’ll find stuff like K2, a synthetic form of marijuana often found in gas stations that has killed inmates across the U.S. for years.
It appears we have a new entry in the shady gas station narcotic canon. People refer to it as “gas station heroin,” so you know it must be insane and deeply unsafe.
It goes by a few different AI-generated nonsense brand names like Zaza, Tianaa, and Neptune’s Fix, but they all share the same ingredient in common — tianeptine, a drug that has not been approved for consumption in the United States. But until someone decides to do something about it, it’ll continue to be sold in little brightly colored Five-Hour Energy style bottles.
Tianeptine is technically an antidepressant in some countries, but here in the States, it’s just another unapproved compound. Despite the FDA having never approved it and having flat-out labeled products containing it as dangerous, it’s still being sold in a variety of forms, from energy boosters to miracle addiction cures. The various dubious products aren’t that, to be clear. At all.
In America, though, you are actively encouraged to continue making money selling an extremely dangerous product based on a lie until you kill enough people that someone starts caring an eighth of a shit, roughly the amount of shit a politician must accrue to halfheartedly submit a bill banning the substance.
Gas Station Heroin’s Laundry List of Side Effects
The FDA has issued multiple warnings saying that products containing tianeptine can cause seizures, heart issues, and respiratory depression.
What makes it dangerous is its opioid-like effect on the brain. It hits similar receptors, making users feel euphoric or sedated. That’s why it draws in so many people struggling with pain, depression, or opioid withdrawal, but it’s also what lands them in the ER when a dose goes wrong. And it often does. In 2023, researchers found an astounding 525 percent spike in tianeptine-related poison control calls over five years, with nearly half of those calls requiring hospital care, and many needing intensive treatment.
One in particular stands out. It involved the aforementioned and terribly named Neptune’s Fix, a tianeptine drink that sent 20 people in New Jersey to the hospital. Not only did Neptune’s Fix contain tianeptine, but also a synthetic cannabis, another gas station drug Hall of Famer.
While tianeptine isn’t on the federal list of controlled substances (yet), a handful of states like Alabama and Michigan have outlawed it. Alabama, once the epicenter of tianeptine use, actually saw emergency calls dip after the ban. Cause and effect! Amazing what can be accomplished when politicians actually care about public health.
Look, you shouldn’t need some random person on the internet to tell you not to imbibe a gas station drug. Especially if you’re an adult. Having said that, I will now offer my perfunctory plea to please not drink the gas station heroin if you’re thirsty and looking for a buzz. That’s why the Mountain Dew is just a few steps away.
The post The FDA Is Begging Americans to Stop Buying Gas Station Heroin appeared first on VICE.
