RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – After hearing from people dealing with serious effects and a warning from federal officials, North Carolina lawmakers on Tuesday considered what steps they should take to try to get so-called “gas station heroin” off the shelves.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a letter last month regarding a public safety alert regarding “reports of serious medical injuries” tied to a product called Neptune’s Fix that contains the drug tianeptine.
The FDA urged stores not only to remove Neptune’s Fix from their shelves but any products containing tianeptine. It can have qualities similar to opioids and be highly addictive, experts say. It’s been found most commonly at gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops.
“The letters that they’ve sent to gas station retailers are requests that don’t necessarily have legal teeth because it is an unregulated product,” Stephanie Craycroft-Andrews, a clinical pharmacist at Vaya Health, told state lawmakers Tuesday.
While tianeptine is an approved antidepressant in some countries, it is not approved in the United States. Some manufacturers are marketing it as a dietary supplement that can boost one’s mood and brain function.