22 Pounds Of 'Gas Station Heroin' Seized In South Jersey

NEW JERSEY — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers recently seized 22 pounds of "gas station heroin" bound for an address in Bergen County, the agency announced Friday.

Authorities said the shipment of a potentially dangerous drug called tianeptine — known on the street as “gas station heroin" — was found at an unnamed international express consignment facility in South Jersey on Dec. 4. According to officials, the drugs were being sent to an address in Edgewater.

CBP officers tested the substance using a handheld elemental isotope analysis tool and identified the substance as tianeptine sodium salt.

According to officials, tianeptine is an antidepressant that is sold in European, Asian, and South American countries to reportedly treat anxiety, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Tianeptine is referred to as "gas station heroin" because it is commonly sold at gas stations and smoke shops and is known to mimic the effects of opioids. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved the substance for any use in the United States.

The FDA has been warning about the dangers of the drug since 2022, and the New Jersey Department of Health warned about the drug in an alert in 2023 regarding a spike in calls to the state’s poison control hotline about people who had taken the drug. There were 20 cases reported to poison control from June to November 2023, the health department said.

“It is inaccurately marketed as a safer alternative to opioids and can have opioid-like effects. The FDA has warned that manufacturers of tianeptine are making inaccurate and unproven claims that use of tianeptine can improve brain function, treat anxiety, depression, pain, opioid use disorder, and other health ailments,” the state health department said.

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