Editorial: 'Gas-station heroin' is dangerous. State must regulate it now
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024 -- A product, displayed beside candy and cough drops, can be mistakenly assumed to be safe. Elixirs with tianeptine can be addictive and deadly. As a matter of public health and safety, state officials need to act to limit access to this dangerous substance now.
Posted — UpdatedIt is sold as an ingredient in dietary supplements – easy to buy at the counters of gas stations, convenience stores or smoke shops. But tianeptine, known as “gas-station heroin” on the streets, offers an opioid-like high when taken in larger amounts, can be similarly addictive and produce overdose symptoms.
Still, it is readily available in North Carolina and sold under product names “Neptune’s Fix.” Abuse can result in loss of consciousness and seizures and require emergency medical attention.
Bordering states of Tennessee and Georgia – along with seven other states around the nation – have already acted to ban the unregulated sale of products with tianeptine.
Timothy Ives, a professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, specialized on internal medicine and pain medicine, said he’s observed with concern the growing abuse of readily available products containing tianeptine.
“It's time for North Carolina to take a look at this. Look at the dangers and look at the population that could be getting this,” Ives said. “What's stopping anyone -- a 16-year-old -- from getting it. there are no inhibitions on that.”
In Florida, that state’s attorney general issued an emergency rule making tianeptine illegal. North Carolina’s Attorney General Josh Stein needs to review his authority to do the same.
Similarly, Gov. Roy Cooper needs to direct N.C. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kody Kinsley and those in the Substance Abuse Division to determine what action can be immediately taken to make sure such harmful products are not so readily available for abuse.
A product, displayed beside candy and cough drops, can be mistakenly assumed to be safe. Elixirs with tianeptine can be addictive and deadly.
As a matter of public health and safety, state officials need to act to limit access to this dangerous substance now.
Related Topics
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.