Kristin holds out some Zaza Red tianeptine capsules in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 9, 2023. (Octavio Jones/VICE News)
Kristin, 42, smokes cigarettes in her backyard while waiting for her tianeptine to take effect in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 9, 2023. (Octavio Jones/VICE News)
“Tianeptine is the devil,” she said, a refrain she repeated over the three days VICE News spent with her in March. “I want the whole world to know these things are evil.”After taking the anti-seizure meds, Kristin and Jason piled into their friend’s pick-up truck and headed to a methadone clinic a few minutes away. Darting into the nondescript, off-white brick building, they took shots of the pink liquid, a long-acting opioid that they hoped would help wean them off tianeptine. But Kristin is near the maximum methadone dose she can get, and while it’s eased her cravings, it hasn’t stopped them. Mainly, she said, it allows her to go longer between doses of tianeptine. She said their doctor at the clinic only heard about tianeptine through them.“Tianeptine is the devil.”
Tianeptine is a tricyclic antidepressant that boosts the production of serotonin and dopamine, which impact happiness, and norepinephrine, which impacts the body’s fight or flight response. It also hits opioid receptors in the brain, which can produce euphoria and pain relief. In theory, methadone could ease the desire for the drug by acting on those same receptors. Because many tianeptine products feature proprietary blends, though, no one knows just how to counter their effects, because no one but the manufacturers even knows for sure what’s in them. (VICE News reached out to several tianeptine manufacturers and distributors for comment but did not receive any responses.)If you or someone you know has been impacted by tianeptine addiction or a state ban on the drug, we’d like to hear from you. Please email manisha.krishnan@vice.com.
Kristin, 42, takes a dose of the opioid methadone, in hopes that it will curb her tianeptine cravings, at a clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 9, 2023. (Octavio Jones/VICE News)
Kristin, 42, has a tattoo on her hand of a drawing, done by her son, of himself with her and her 34-year-old fiancé Jason in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 9, 2023. (Octavio Jones/VICE News)
Kristin, 42, and her fiancé Jason on their way to buy tianeptine in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 9, 2023. (Octavio Jones/VICE News)
“I was like, ‘Holy crap, I will be damned, it feels more like pain pills than pain pills do.’ I was so happy, thinking something from a gas station isn’t going to be addictive,” she said. “It was like a godsend. I almost heard heavenly bells.” Before long, she was downing a bottle and a half at a time. At first, the effects lasted all day. Now they last four hours at most. Kristin said the high she got from the Zazas was the same as the feeling she got from painkillers. But there was a big difference between the two, Kristin said, gesturing at her 11-year-old, who played with miniature skateboards nearby. She’s no longer worried about losing custody of her child, since she’s taking something legal.“It was like a godsend. I almost heard heavenly bells.”
Kristin, 42, holds two bottles of Zaza Red, a variety and brand of tianeptine, in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 9, 2023. (Octavio Jones/VICE News)
Kristin, 42, hugs her 11-year-old son in their front yard in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 9, 2023. (Octavio Jones/VICE News)
“It was like, ‘Oh my God, everything is terrible. My future is just going to be terrible.’ I wanted to die,” he said. There’s no standard detox protocol for tianeptine. But more rehabilitation facilities in places like Florida and Tennessee are offering services for people addicted to the legal drug. “When people come in and they’re using it, they go through what we see as opioid withdrawal,” said Lantie Jorandby, chief psychiatrist at Lakeview Health, a Jacksonville-based rehab facility. “They look like they have a bad case of aches and pains. They’ll have diarrhea. They’ll have chills and sweats.”In October, Jorandby treated a man who had to leave his job to deal with his tianeptine addiction. She said he stayed for a total of three weeks, doing behavioural therapy and group support, but Jorandby didn’t think medications like methadone would be useful because tianeptine doesn’t function exactly like an opioid.“‘Oh my God, everything is terrible. My future is just going to be terrible.’ I wanted to die.”
Kristin, 42, swallows a bottle and a half of tianeptine, or 20 capsules, first thing in the morning and waits for her withdrawal symptoms to ease in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 9, 2023. (Octavio Jones/VICE News)
4B4A6235.JPG Kristin, 42, and her fiancé Jason look for Zaza Red, their preferred variety and brand of tianeptine, at a local smoke shop in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 9, 2023. (Octavio Jones/VICE News)