it's promoted as a mood booster and focus Aid sold at gas stations smoke shops and convenience stores but the CDC is warning the public to stay away from the dangerous substance known as gas station heroin most frequently marketed under the name Neptunes fix an Elixir sold in colorful bottles that mimic some of the effects of opioids and can have serious life-threatening side effects Ted Goldberg reports congressman Frank loan and Healthcare Providers are warning people that supplements with tianeptine could lead to Serious consequences agitation delirium low blood pressure seizures um and even Cardiac Arrest it is really one of the more recent unregulated products uh that is too easily available under the guise of being harmless some harmless mood and cognitive uh booster that is sold as gas station heroin gas station heroin is sold under brand names like Neptune's fix which has been recalled by its manufacturer you can still find it at convenience stores smoke shops and gas stations it's killing people it's highly addictive uh I mean it's not an opiate but it has the same impact it's addictive it results in users ending up in our emergency rooms at hackin sack and because of the significant side effects of withdrawal many users develop a tolerance to it they use these products every day um and in escalating doses as you know trying to kind of keep the effect the same in other countries you can find tianeptine in prescription medication but tianeptine was never approved for use in American drugs the issue here is tianeptine itself and what else it's mixed with in these drinks you might get way too much tianeptine um effectively giving you a tianeptine overdose or you might get tianeptine in a bunch of other things uh that are have side effects or can be dangerous like synthetic cannaboids argues it's become much more widespread thanks to baseless claims and the claims that are being made are things like uh that it treats anxiety uh it treats all kinds of disorders some claims have even been made that um it can be used as an alternative to heroin or opiate uh you know as a as a method of treatment almost right people just believe all this stuff all this garbage we normally hear the word tianeptine about once or twice a year at the New Jersey poison Center but over the space of about two to three weeks in June we heard about it six times from six patients that six patients in June has now become 40 patients as of today despite the recall some places still stock these drinks palone has written to Federal Regulators asking to step up enforcement and he's asked trade groups to tell their member stores to stop selling anything with tianeptine there are so many things that are sold today that people just believe because it's on the shelf that somehow it's safe or somehow it's been approved by the FDA or somebody the police are not going to go in and and seize this at the convenience store uh that's just not going to happen it's not like you know heroin or something else that's a controlled substance tianeptine has been banned in nine states and while it hasn't killed anybody in New Jersey yet leaders aren't taking any chances in Edison I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news [Music]