A new study discovered another chilling trend about opioid addicts taking a new kind of fix. According to a government report, the use of unapproved antidepressant is fast becoming a new addiction in America.  The drug called Tianeptine which is widely available in Asian, Latin America, and European countries for the treatment of depression and anxiety.

However, the US Food and Drug Administration has not yet given an approval for the safe use of the drug in the country. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tianeptine does not have any kind of government approval. Nevertheless, this does not stop people from buying and taking the drug either legally or recreationally. In the US, Tianeptine is sold under the names Coaxil or Stablon. The US poison control centers receive an alarming number of reports related to the drug.

Poison control reports

Within the last four years, the poison control centers reported about 207 calls related to Tianeptine. People using Tianeptine unexpectedly grew from just a handful of 11 calls in the last 14 years according to the report of CDC’s CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The drug can produce effects like that of opioids which makes it a very popular drug of choice for opioid addicts.

“THURSDAY, Aug. 2, 2018 (HealthDay News) — In a trend that suggests opioid addicts are turning to new fixes, a government report shows that use of an unapproved antidepressant is becoming more widespread in the United States.

Tianeptine is used in some European, Asian and Latin American countries for treatment of depression and anxiety. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved use of the drug in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite this, U.S. poison control centers have been receiving a growing number of reports related to tianeptine, which is sold abroad under the names Coaxil or Stablon. There have been 207 calls to poison control centers regarding tianeptine within the last four years, compared with just 11 calls in the 14 years prior, according to a report in the Aug. 3 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

“There’s essentially been an exponential increase in cases being reported to poison control, which likely underestimates the prevalence of tianeptine use or exposure by many orders of magnitude,” said Dr. Harshal Kirane, director of addiction services for Staten Island University Hospital in New York City. Tianeptine produces effects similar to opioids, and officials suspect that people are taking the drug as an alternative to those narcotics, the new report noted.”

Read more about the new drug here.