What Is "Gas Station Heroin" and Why Are Health Officials Sounding the Alarm?

Have you ever gone into a gas station to pay, and noticed all of the brightly colored bottles of dietary supplements stacked by the register? They usually offer some promises to help you stay awake, or else to give you the extra energy you need to make it through the day.

According to health officials, these substances, which are made using a chemical called tianeptine, are behind a cluster of illnesses, which have earned the bottles a nefarious name: Gas station heroin.

What is gas station heroin? And why is it still legal to buy at rest stops and gas stations across the U.S.? Keep reading to find out what health experts are saying, including what could happen to you if you decide to try the substances.

Gas station heroin is the nickname for the dietary supplements made using tianeptine. Health officials, like the ones who work at the New Jersey Department of Health, are sounding the alarm over the substance. In a health alert, the New Jersey officials told residents to avoid the products, saying that they could produce opioid-like effects.

The agency says that the product is even marketed as an alternative to opioids, and that it typically comes along with a list of claims, stating that users can experience everything from improved brain function to reduced anxiety symptoms.

Much like the drugs it mimics, tianeptine can have harmful side effects. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), they include symptoms ranging from high blood pressure to neurological issues, and include but aren't limited to:

• Drowsiness
• Confusion
• Nausea/vomiting
• Heart problems
• Agitation
• Coma
• And more...

While used as an antidepressant in some countries, tianeptine has not received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As such, the FDA is warning residents to avoid using products containing the substance. The agency has shared a list of items to be on the lookout for on its website, and FDA officials are updating it as they learn more about it.

Some of those products include Super Chill Products (a distributor of Neptune's Fix).

The FDA says that the company has issued a recall of the products, even though it hasn't issued a public statement to customers about its reason for pulling the items from shelves. Tianeptine is also found in Tianaa, Pegasus, and TD Red products.

Additionally, the FDA warns customers that tianeptine can be found elsewhere. Despite the nickname of gas station heroin, these dietary supplements are also typically sold in vape shops and through online retailers as well.

As such, it's incredibly important for shoppers to be aware of what they're purchasing when they buy these types of supplements.

According to an expert who spoke with local news station WVIR in Virginia, health officials don't yet know the actual dangers of tianeptine, because no drug test exists yet for the substance. As such, they cannot accurately report how many lives it has already taken.