Mississippi lawmakers are tackling the issue of ‘gas station heroin’

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Medical doctors are warning that there’s a harmful drug hiding in plain sight at your neighborhood gasoline stations. The legislature is speaking about find out how to deal with the newest menace of tianeptine.

You could have seen bottles with names like Za Za, Tiana, and Crimson Daybreak alongside different dietary supplements on the gasoline station and didn’t suppose a lot of it. Nonetheless, docs are elevating a crimson flag about what these actually include.

There’s no prescription required, not even a visit to the pharmacy. So tablets like Za Za have to be secure, proper? Nope. Dr. Jennifer Bryan explains it’s removed from secure and even nicknamed “gasoline station heroin.”

“It will probably kill individuals, to be fairly sincere, and it’s extremely addictive,” described Bryan, chairman of the Mississippi delegation of the American Medical Affiliation.

Bryan noticed that with a affected person final fall.

“I had a younger girl come to me, and she or he was a mom, and she or he was coping with despair,” she defined. “And a good friend advised her about Za Za. So she tried it. And I promise you that very same day, she mentioned she couldn’t cease, and it was so unhappy.”

So, how is it being bought at your neighborhood comfort shops? It’s technically an anti-depressant however marketed as a dietary complement.

“In sneaky conditions like tianeptine, one thing that the FDA on the drug facet has not accredited for prescription in the US resulting from security causes, can sneak within the again door as a complement,” defined Bryan.

Home Invoice 4 has handed the Home and is pending within the Senate. It could make it a schedule one drug, successfully banning it.

“We’ve got no want to have the ability to entry this harmful substance within the gasoline station,” added Bryan. “We simply don’t, and the analysis has been executed. The FDA has not accredited it for security causes. We all know what it’s. We don’t want tianeptine within the state of Mississippi in any capability.”

Because the invoice strikes by way of the legislative course of, it additionally caught the eye of some native communities like Columbus. Mother Tracy Morrison blames the tablets for her son’s dying earlier this month.

“He wound up shopping for a bottle of the Zaza reds,” mentioned Morrison. “He did this on a Friday, and inside 4 hours, he was gone.”

The Columbus Metropolis Council is ready to fulfill on February 21 to think about an area ordinance banning the sale of Za Za.

“We need to be sure that it’s crystal clear that we don’t need this product in our group,” mentioned Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins.

We’ll maintain following the invoice by way of the legislative course of and allow you to know what occurs this session.

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