NORTH CAROLINA, USA — On a sunny May afternoon, WFMY News 2's Chad Silber met a desperate and loving mother to talk about an exhausting few years that have been anything but sunny. Monica agreed to share her family's story if we concealed her and her son's names and identities.
"I just don't want other people to have to go through this," Monica said. As you can imagine, it's not easy to talk publicly about drug addiction in your family.
It all started about 10 years ago when her son Trevor, who was in his 20s at the time, went to the doctor for an ankle injury.
"They put him on narcotics for the pain,” Monica remembered. “He took the painkillers for a while and got addicted to that."
Monica said he eventually moved on to heroin because it was cheaper. The years-long addiction led to overdosing twice.
"If someone hadn't been close by with Narcan, he would've overdosed and died," Monica said.
The Montgomery County woman said she tried all sorts of things to try to get him to stop. "Not that you want your child to go to jail, but you will do anything. You will get up with the local law; he's driving, he's high."
Trevor eventually went to rehab and was clean for a couple of months. But it didn't last long.
"A friend came up with this Red Zaza bottle and said, ‘Try this, it's just like the heroin, but it's legal,’" Monica said.
A legal drug that's as easy to buy as a pack of cigarettes. Monica remembers when her son first told her about it four years ago.
"You hope that it's just not going to be as bad as it was, and I guess that was our initial reaction," Monica said.
That thought quickly changed. "After a few months, we saw that it was just as bad as the heroin," Monica said.
All the hard work from months of rehab was gone in a flash. "At one time, I've even heard him call that drug his master."
It started with pawning things he, his spouse, and their child owned and blowing his paycheck.
"You get very aggressive, very hostile to your family," Monica reflected. "The withdrawals are awful, very bad muscle and bone aches."
So, what’s in Red Zaza?
It contains a drug called Tianeptine. The FDA does not approve it, but you wouldn't know it, considering it's sold at smoke shops across the Triad. It’s been dubbed “gas station heroin."
According to the National Institutes of Health, Tianeptine is considered an antidepressant. Scientists said tolerance to it occurs rapidly, and users might take 100 times the recommended dosage. Standard bottles have 15 capsules, and each serving size is one capsule. Experts said it's not unusual for a user to ingest multiple bottles a day.
Monica knows that well. "I've seen him take four bottles in one day, and they're $25 a bottle, so in one day, you've already blown $100 or more."
Monica told Silber she's pleaded her case to every smoke shop in the county but understands it's a business. “I tried to talk to Attorney Generals and different people about what I could do. I’ve called the FDA, I’ve called the DEA, I’ve been to the stores, I’ve been to the pawn shops, just trying anything.”
"It breaks your heart when you've carried that child in you and you love them and you want the best for them, I mean every parent does," Monica said.
The problem is so bad that 12 states have banned the substance, and North Carolina could be next.
"I had never heard of it,” said Representative Stephen Ross, a Republican lawmaker from Alamance County. “I asked a few of my colleagues; they had never heard of it."
Rep. Ross said he first heard of Tianeptine last summer when someone approached him about addiction concerns similar to Monica's.
"I started looking into it, and as it turned out, it was more prevalent than I thought," Ross said.
State lawmakers formed a committee to study the drug. "We had law enforcement come in and tell us that they were seeing this stuff all over the place, but there was nothing they could do because it was not illegal," Ross said.
On the first day of this new session, lawmakers introduced a bill that would effectively ban it from stores.
Monica supports the move. "It can't come soon enough. They need to get it off shelves."
Meantime, she's cautiously optimistic that her son is finally turning a corner on his addiction.
"I think we've got a month under our belt of him being clean and off of it,” Monica said with a faint smile. “We take it one day at a time."
She's grateful for the small things.
"He's more involved, very caring, back to his old self,” Monica said. “My sweet son again."
Among the many tough conversations she's had with him, there's one that sticks out. "I told him 'Either you'll die first or I'll die first but I'll always be there, I'll never give up. I'll never stop trying.'"
WFMY News 2 has contacted Red Zaza's parent company to inquire about this troubling trend, but we haven’t heard back.
In the meantime, lawmakers hope to get the bill passed in this short session, considering it has bipartisan support.
As for the drug, the FDA is urging all retailers to stop selling the multiple products that contain Tianeptine.