Tianeptine, found at convenience stores, at smoke shops and online, can mimic an opioid. It is among a growing class of substances that are difficult to control.
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Often sold as a dietary supplement and promoted by retailers as a mood booster and focus aid, tianeptine is among a growing, unregulated class of potentially addictive products available in gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops and across the internet. They typically include synthetic pharmaceuticals and plant-derived substances.
Some, like kratom and phenibut, can be addictive and, in rare cases, fatal. They often originate in other countries, including Indonesia and Russia, where they are commonly used, even prescribed, for mood management. But the Food and Drug Administration has not approved them as medicines in the United States.
“Tianeptine is an emerging threat,” said Kaitlyn Brown, clinical managing director of America’s Poison Centers, which represents and collects data from 55 centers nationwide. “We have people who are able to get a substance that’s not well regulated, that has abuse potential and that, in high doses, can cause similar effects to opioids, leading to really harmful outcomes.”
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Tianeptine is a drug developed by French researchers in the 1960s as an antidepressant. It is approved in low doses for that use in many European, Asian and Latin American countries.
But at higher doses, it also works much as an opioid does, delivering short-lived euphoria. In the United States, many people take tianeptine under the widespread, mistaken belief that it is a safe alternative to street opioids like fentanyl or heroin, or even a way to taper off using them. On social media sites like Reddit, its merits are hotly debated, with more than 5,000 people subscribing to a “Quitting Tianeptine” forum.
As someone who used drugs for years and is all for the legalization of drugs like mushrooms, acid and MDMA I’m fucking astounded Kratom is legal
I get psychedelics, but if you want MDMA to be legal there’s no reason kratom shouldn’t be.
I think MDMA has a higher likelihood to help people through therapy, Kratom is just a way to nod out (imo)
Kratom doesn’t make you nod out though - it’s actually the oposite, unless you take huge doses.
It gives you energy, it’s great for productivity.
As long as you don’t overdo it of course, but that’s true for any psychoactive substances.
Edit: wanna add, if we’re talking medical, agreed, mdma is more important. If recreational, not so sure
I bet a nice light dose of MDMA with a good/group therapist you trust would be incredibly beneficial. It’s hard on the body but once or twice per year (or whatever) isn’t going to hurt an adult. Feeling that connection with others and your own feelings is something a lot of people are missing in their lives IMO.
I could see kratom maybe having some pain management effects but that’s about it.
I mean it’s really not as bad as real opiates/opioids. It is pretty impossible to overdose on the kratom leaf, itself. It is addicting, and there are withdrawal symptoms, but nothing like actual opiate withdrawals. It can be a helpful thing for opiate addicts to get off of harder stuff, or as pain management. I have an ex who is clean and sober thanks to that stuff, so maybe I am biased by that experience.
But it’s obvious to us all that making stuff illegal doesn’t help anyone except private prisons and sadistic cops and all of the growing number and assortment of private industries profiting off of prisoners (from phone calls to inedible food to companies using prisoners as slave labor), and actually causes way more harm than being proactive, right?
