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drdªv€
02-22-2007, 06:45 AM
Three La Quinta High School students will have a few days to think about the dangers of abusing over-the¬-counter cold medicine, after being rushed to the hospital for overdosing. NewsChannel 3 went back to the school today to find out how something like this could happen.

Those teens now face five day suspensions.

Students and parents say they're stunned by this drug abuse incident, a case of three students reportedly looking to get "a buzz" or get high. The students allegedly were abusing Coricidin HBP. It contains dextromethorphan and is harmless, if taken correctly. But that wasn't the case here and we're told the students were actually taking the pills on campus, during classes.

Chris Cerruti, a junior at La Quinta High School, says he's angry that three other students, who he considers to be friends, put themselves in danger by abusing cold medicine.

"I wouldn't want them to do drugs on campus or off campus. I don't like it the fact they did on campus, I'm mad at them for it."

Principal Donna Salazar says school officials noticed the students behaving strangely Tuesday morning and that they seemed to be under the influence of something and very sick.

"They told us, they took some before they got here and through the morning. Some took, it varied, from 10 up to 30 pills."

The students were rushed to JFK Hospital, where they were treated and released. Principal Salazar says she and her assistants are going around to every classroom to make sure students get the message.

"It's a two fold message -- educate them about the dangers, make sure they understand there's behavior consequences that go along with that kind of choice."

We're told the three students have been given five day suspensions and will also undergo a drug counseling program at the district level.


http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=612...123198&nav=9qrx (http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=6123198&nav=9qrx)

drdªv€
02-22-2007, 10:44 PM
Students caught abusing cold medicine suspended
February 22, 2007

One student at La Quinta High School took 25 little, red tablets by the time officials called for medical help.
The Coricidin HBP Cough and Cold pills look harmless - a pack of 16 could fit in a teenager's palm - but when abused, they can be deadly.

Students call them "Triple Cs" and say they are offered for sale in local schools. In California, calls to the Poison Control hotline for help with teen overdoses increased 15-fold. And a bill has been introduced in the U.S. Congress to help curtail abuse.

"Because it slowly dissolves - it's a longer effectiveness for cold symptoms - what kids do is they either take several of them or smash them, and all of it is released at one time," said Cathy Dunn, California regional manager for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

"That could make it deadly."

The La Quinta High student and two others who were taken to the hospital Tuesday afternoon are serving five days suspension for the incident, said Principal Donna Salazar.

The others took more than 10 pills but less than 25, she said.

"The kids were quite sick," Salazar said, but added Wednesday that they are "recovering well."

Salazar said she and other administrators will visit every class this week to educate students about the dangers of abusing over-the-counter medications and the school policies that ban them without a doctor's note.


Jane Mills, director of child welfare and attendance in Palm Springs Unified School District, said she's seen more of these incidents in the past five years.
"We'd be foolish to say we don't know about it. We can't put our heads in the sand," Mills said.

Palm Springs Unified students found with over-the-counter medications get on-site counseling and resources, just as students who are caught with illicit drugs, Mills said.

Officials at Coachella Valley Unified School District did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Each Coricidin HBP Cough and Cold pill contains 30 milligrams of dextromethorpan, a cough suppressant found in many household cold medications such as Robitussin and NyQuil.

The Robitussin brand has given rise to the term "robotripping" for its use to a point of altered consciousness.

"There's a perception that because it's over-the-counter, it's safe," said Ilene Anderson, senior toxicologist at the California Poison Control System. "It's a product you can find in your own medicine cabinet in your own home."

The Coricidin package instructs users to take one tablet every six hours and not to exceed four in 24 hours.

While some La Quinta students said they were shocked by the news of their classmates' abuse, others shrugged their shoulders.

"You'll be walking in the hallways and someone will say 'You want to buy some drugs?'" said Carly Valenzuela, 15, a sophomore. Valenzuela said she does not use medication to get high or for unintended purposes.

Generally, students offer over-the-counter medications, she said, rather than illicit drugs like marijuana.

"As long as you can overdose on it, they'll give it to you," she said.

Kyle Jones, 15, also a sophomore at La Quinta, said it's easy to spot the tiny, red Coricidin pills because of the three "C's" on the face.

Jones said he does not use medication to get high or for unintended purposes, but he's seen students take a handful and "just swallow them."

"Most kids puke it up so they don't OD (overdose)," he said. "It's an easy drug to get."

Coricidin and its counterparts are readily available in drug stores, groceries and home medicine cabinets across the country.

That's why, experts say, over-the-counter medication abuse among teens is on the rise.

Teen abuse of cold medication is on par or higher than the abuse of illegal drugs, such Ecstasy, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin, according to a 2005 study from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

Calls to the California Poison Control System regarding abuse of over-the-counter medication increased tenfold from 1999 to 2004, Anderson said.

Those same calls regarding children ages 9 to 17 increased 15-fold, she added.

"The trend is going up. It's an alarming rate. And that's probably the tip of the iceberg," said Anderson, also a clinical professor in the School of Pharmacy at UC San Francisco.

"People who take drugs to get high and nothing adverse happens - poison control never hears about it."

Dextromethorpan, also known as "DXM," is effective in prescribed doses. When abused, users often get a euphoric or high effect.

Anderson said abusers report "out-of-body" experiences, closed-eye visual hallucinations and color changes.

Vomiting, nausea, increased heart rate, disorientation - and in rare occasions, seizures and potentially deadly body temperatures - also come with abuse.

Both Walgreens and CVS stores require customers to be 18 years of age to purchase anything with dextromethorpan, according to spokespeople at both companies.

Walgreens also limits purchases of all Coricidin products to two boxes per transaction, regardless of the customer's age.

Dunn at the Partnership for a Drug-Free America warned against retail on the Internet as well.

"There's no way of catching them (teens)," she said. "It's a name that orders and they send it on."

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Michigan, introduced legislation this month that would make it illegal to sell dextromethorpan products to a person or company not affiliated with the Federal Drug Administration.

For now, experts say parental education and awareness is the best combatant.


http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...0342/1141/RSS25 (http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070222/NEWS04/702220342/1141/RSS25)

Fuct UP KID
02-23-2007, 02:20 AM
I don't get what it is that attracts stupid dumb highschoolers that want to trip in school to triple Cs... someone needs to educate these poor dumb fucks to real tripping.

Terraculon4000
02-23-2007, 12:21 PM
Yet again, they fail to mention the Clorpheniramine. :(