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05-24-2006, 10:50 AM
Drug Abuse Threat Lies in Your Medicine Cabinet
CBS News
When Misty Fetko looks at pictures of her son Carl, she can only imagine what if. In 2003, just two nights before he was going to leave for college, mom and son discussed the future.
"It was a nice conversation," Mister said. "He hugged me and told me goodnight and said I'll see you in the morning."
But for Carl, the morning never came. Misty found him the next day, in his room, dead. An autopsy revealed he had drugs in his system, but not what you might expect. Blood tests found cough syrup and pain killers.
"We discovered that for two and a half years he was using cough syrup to get high," Misty said.
Experts say kids drink entire bottles of cough syrup to get high from the active ingredient dextromethorphan, or DXM. According to a new poll, use is rampant.
The Partnership for a Drug Free America found one out of ten kids admitted trying cough syrup to get high. That's not all teens are getting from the medicine cabinet. One in five say they’ve used prescription drugs like pain killers. The poll found most kids don’t think they are dangerous, because they're medicine.
Experts say the best thing parents can do is educate themselves, then talk to their children.
"We know that when parents get involved kids change the way they're deciding about using drugs," says Tom Hedrick of The Partnership for a Drug Free America.
That's why Misty is sharing her son's story.
"(So) that another mother does not wake up one morning to find that her child has passed away during the night."
To learn more, visit the web site for the Partnership for a Drug Free America, www.drugfree.org.
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/2833321.html
CBS News
When Misty Fetko looks at pictures of her son Carl, she can only imagine what if. In 2003, just two nights before he was going to leave for college, mom and son discussed the future.
"It was a nice conversation," Mister said. "He hugged me and told me goodnight and said I'll see you in the morning."
But for Carl, the morning never came. Misty found him the next day, in his room, dead. An autopsy revealed he had drugs in his system, but not what you might expect. Blood tests found cough syrup and pain killers.
"We discovered that for two and a half years he was using cough syrup to get high," Misty said.
Experts say kids drink entire bottles of cough syrup to get high from the active ingredient dextromethorphan, or DXM. According to a new poll, use is rampant.
The Partnership for a Drug Free America found one out of ten kids admitted trying cough syrup to get high. That's not all teens are getting from the medicine cabinet. One in five say they’ve used prescription drugs like pain killers. The poll found most kids don’t think they are dangerous, because they're medicine.
Experts say the best thing parents can do is educate themselves, then talk to their children.
"We know that when parents get involved kids change the way they're deciding about using drugs," says Tom Hedrick of The Partnership for a Drug Free America.
That's why Misty is sharing her son's story.
"(So) that another mother does not wake up one morning to find that her child has passed away during the night."
To learn more, visit the web site for the Partnership for a Drug Free America, www.drugfree.org.
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/2833321.html