Walkaway
02-11-2007, 05:11 PM
ROBO-TRIPPING
Every trend in recreational drug use generates its own lexicon, and the latest craze among US teens is no exception.* Youngsters are turning to over-the-counter cough medicines for a cheap and accessible high.* The practice is known to aficionados as robo-tripping or skittling.
The main active ingredient in many cough remedies is dextromethorphan, or DXM, which is metabolized to dextrorphan (DX) by the liver.* At therapeutic doses of around 30 milligrams every 4 to 6 hours, DXM is a safe cough suppressant.* But recreational users consume between 150 and 2000 milligrams at a time.* DXM and DX block NMDA receptors in the brain, and in huge doses alter the transmission of information across synapses.
Robo-trippers experience distortions of colour perception and dream-like effects.* Higher doses can cause out-of-body experiences, placing DXM in a class of drugs known as dissociative hallucinogens.* Other examples include ketamine and PCP, which act on the same receptors.
The slang names for the practice derive from the two most commonly abused products: Robitussin cough syrup and Coricidin HBP Cough and Cold tablets, which resemble the popular candies Skittles.* Also known as triple-Cs, they have become the robo-trippers' pill of choice.
In the 2006 Monitoring the Future study, a survey of teenage drug use conducted by the Institute for Social research at the University of Michigan, 7 per cent of 17 and 18-year-olds reported getting high on over-the-counter cough medicines containing DXM in the previous year.* This is the first time the study has looked at DXM abuse, but a recent survey of the incidence of DXM toxicity led by Ilene Anderson of the California Poison Control System suggests that recreational use among US adolescents rose tenfold between 1999 and 2004 (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, vol 160, p 1217).
How worried should parents be?* Anderson's study, which documents 1382 incidents, suggests that a minority of robo-trippers suffer side-effects such as seizures or breathing difficulty.* Thankfully, no deaths were recorded.* Anderson warns against complacency, though, not least because it is possible to inadvertently overdose on other drugs present in cough and cold remedies.* In particular, some contain the painkiller acetaminophen (paracetamol), which can cause severe liver damage in high doses.
The surge in DXM abuse has been drively largely by the internet: several websites give guides on the doses necessary to achieve various levels of DXM experience.* In response, manufacturers in the US have produced messages for TV, radio, and the web highlighting the dangers.
Some pharmacists are also keeping the most commonly abused products behind their counters and selling them only to adults.* But Anderson fears that teenagers who cannot get triple-Cs will turn to Coricidin HBP Maximum Strength Flu, which contains less DXM but higher levels of liver-damaging acetaminophen.
(New Scientist, 3 February 2007, p. 48)
Every trend in recreational drug use generates its own lexicon, and the latest craze among US teens is no exception.* Youngsters are turning to over-the-counter cough medicines for a cheap and accessible high.* The practice is known to aficionados as robo-tripping or skittling.
The main active ingredient in many cough remedies is dextromethorphan, or DXM, which is metabolized to dextrorphan (DX) by the liver.* At therapeutic doses of around 30 milligrams every 4 to 6 hours, DXM is a safe cough suppressant.* But recreational users consume between 150 and 2000 milligrams at a time.* DXM and DX block NMDA receptors in the brain, and in huge doses alter the transmission of information across synapses.
Robo-trippers experience distortions of colour perception and dream-like effects.* Higher doses can cause out-of-body experiences, placing DXM in a class of drugs known as dissociative hallucinogens.* Other examples include ketamine and PCP, which act on the same receptors.
The slang names for the practice derive from the two most commonly abused products: Robitussin cough syrup and Coricidin HBP Cough and Cold tablets, which resemble the popular candies Skittles.* Also known as triple-Cs, they have become the robo-trippers' pill of choice.
In the 2006 Monitoring the Future study, a survey of teenage drug use conducted by the Institute for Social research at the University of Michigan, 7 per cent of 17 and 18-year-olds reported getting high on over-the-counter cough medicines containing DXM in the previous year.* This is the first time the study has looked at DXM abuse, but a recent survey of the incidence of DXM toxicity led by Ilene Anderson of the California Poison Control System suggests that recreational use among US adolescents rose tenfold between 1999 and 2004 (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, vol 160, p 1217).
How worried should parents be?* Anderson's study, which documents 1382 incidents, suggests that a minority of robo-trippers suffer side-effects such as seizures or breathing difficulty.* Thankfully, no deaths were recorded.* Anderson warns against complacency, though, not least because it is possible to inadvertently overdose on other drugs present in cough and cold remedies.* In particular, some contain the painkiller acetaminophen (paracetamol), which can cause severe liver damage in high doses.
The surge in DXM abuse has been drively largely by the internet: several websites give guides on the doses necessary to achieve various levels of DXM experience.* In response, manufacturers in the US have produced messages for TV, radio, and the web highlighting the dangers.
Some pharmacists are also keeping the most commonly abused products behind their counters and selling them only to adults.* But Anderson fears that teenagers who cannot get triple-Cs will turn to Coricidin HBP Maximum Strength Flu, which contains less DXM but higher levels of liver-damaging acetaminophen.
(New Scientist, 3 February 2007, p. 48)