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04-13-2007, 06:25 AM
Drug mix may have killed teen in Ventura
Friends found her lifeless after party
Friday, April 13, 2007
A 15-year-old Ventura girl who died Wednesday of a possible overdose apparently was mixing over-the-counter cold medicine with prescription drugs and alcohol, a dangerous practice on the rise among teens statewide, experts say.
Alexis Byrd, a former Buena High School student, was partying Tuesday night at the home of a 15-year-old boy who lives with his grandmother in east Ventura, police said. Another girl, 12, and a 17-year-old boy were also at the apartment on Rose Circle.
After the grandmother went to bed, the four began drinking beer and swallowing cold tablets, ibuprofen and prescription drugs found in the medicine cabinet, said Ventura Police Detective Sam Arroyo.
The teens eventually passed out, and when the survivors awoke about 9 a.m. Wednesday, Byrd wasn't breathing. They called 911, and all four were taken to local hospitals. Byrd was pronounced dead an hour later at Ventura County Medical Center.
The exact cause of death is pending the results of toxicology tests, which normally take a minimum of four to six weeks, according to the Ventura County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office.
Boy stable after treatment
The 15-year-old boy was put in intensive care and stabilized, police said. The conditions of the other two youths were not available Thursday. Police did not name the surviving three.
Abuse of a drug found in cold medicines has risen dramatically among adolescents in recent years, according to treatment specialists and researchers.
The drug, dextromethorphan, or DXM, is an active ingredient in such medications as Coricidin cold tablets and Robitussin syrup. Taken in quantities beyond the recommended dose, it can cause euphoria and hallucinations.
Ingesting large amounts of DXM also can cause serious conditions such as a rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure and seizures. When mixed with alcohol, the chance of an overdose is magnified, doctors say.
From 1999 to 2004, calls to the California Poison Control System involving DXM rose 15 times among youths 9 to 17, according to a study by the statewide emergency telephone service. The highest frequency of abuse was among 15- and 16-year-olds, the study found.
Researchers concluded the increase was driven by several factors, including the promotion of DXM on Web sites easily accessed by Internet-savvy teens. Because the drugs are legal, teens also might think they are safer than illegal drugs.
Dr. Jeff Robinson is seeing the consequences of such abuse firsthand in Ventura County Medical Center's emergency room.
"More kids are coming in the ER in the last two years than I've ever seen in the 20 years I've worked here," Robinson said. Deaths from overdose are "one of the terrible, tragic outcomes of kids taking this stuff."
Detoxifying teens addicted to cold medicines is becoming almost routine at the Tarzana Treatment Center, where Ventura County adolescents are sent for inpatient treatment, said Stewart Sokol, director of youth services there. Many are mixing massive quantities with alcohol, he said.
Such abuse more prevalent
"Part of the increase is that we're identifying the use of over-the-counter drugs more," Sokol said. "We've recognized that over-the-counter drug abuse is just as severe as illegal drug abuse."
Bonnie Blue, 19, said she moved to Ventura three years ago and began taking over-the-counter drugs to get high. It's not just one or two teenagers taking them, she said. "You see it all the time.
"It's just something they can go to the store and buy, can keep it in their bathroom, and people just think it's cold medicine," Blue said.
Blue now works with a Ventura County group called Straight Up, which runs workshops and other programs targeting underage and binge drinking.
Schools that Byrd had attended were informed Thursday morning that a former student had died, and the campuses made counselors available to students and staff, said Trudy Tuttle Arriaga, Ventura Unified School District superintendent.
Byrd had attended Anacapa Middle School in Ventura and started the ninth grade at Buena High School this fall, Arriaga said. She apparently left the school a few months ago, but Arriaga didn't know where Byrd went.
On Thursday afternoon, no one was home at the apartment on Rose Circle where the youths had partied. Barbara Price, who lives in the same apartment complex, said the place is usually quiet.
Price said the boy and his grandmother moved in about six weeks ago, and since then, a group of kids started hanging around skateboarding and "being silly like teenagers."
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007...een-in-ventura/ (http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/apr/13/drug-mix-may-have-killed-teen-in-ventura/)
Friends found her lifeless after party
Friday, April 13, 2007
A 15-year-old Ventura girl who died Wednesday of a possible overdose apparently was mixing over-the-counter cold medicine with prescription drugs and alcohol, a dangerous practice on the rise among teens statewide, experts say.
Alexis Byrd, a former Buena High School student, was partying Tuesday night at the home of a 15-year-old boy who lives with his grandmother in east Ventura, police said. Another girl, 12, and a 17-year-old boy were also at the apartment on Rose Circle.
After the grandmother went to bed, the four began drinking beer and swallowing cold tablets, ibuprofen and prescription drugs found in the medicine cabinet, said Ventura Police Detective Sam Arroyo.
The teens eventually passed out, and when the survivors awoke about 9 a.m. Wednesday, Byrd wasn't breathing. They called 911, and all four were taken to local hospitals. Byrd was pronounced dead an hour later at Ventura County Medical Center.
The exact cause of death is pending the results of toxicology tests, which normally take a minimum of four to six weeks, according to the Ventura County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office.
Boy stable after treatment
The 15-year-old boy was put in intensive care and stabilized, police said. The conditions of the other two youths were not available Thursday. Police did not name the surviving three.
Abuse of a drug found in cold medicines has risen dramatically among adolescents in recent years, according to treatment specialists and researchers.
The drug, dextromethorphan, or DXM, is an active ingredient in such medications as Coricidin cold tablets and Robitussin syrup. Taken in quantities beyond the recommended dose, it can cause euphoria and hallucinations.
Ingesting large amounts of DXM also can cause serious conditions such as a rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure and seizures. When mixed with alcohol, the chance of an overdose is magnified, doctors say.
From 1999 to 2004, calls to the California Poison Control System involving DXM rose 15 times among youths 9 to 17, according to a study by the statewide emergency telephone service. The highest frequency of abuse was among 15- and 16-year-olds, the study found.
Researchers concluded the increase was driven by several factors, including the promotion of DXM on Web sites easily accessed by Internet-savvy teens. Because the drugs are legal, teens also might think they are safer than illegal drugs.
Dr. Jeff Robinson is seeing the consequences of such abuse firsthand in Ventura County Medical Center's emergency room.
"More kids are coming in the ER in the last two years than I've ever seen in the 20 years I've worked here," Robinson said. Deaths from overdose are "one of the terrible, tragic outcomes of kids taking this stuff."
Detoxifying teens addicted to cold medicines is becoming almost routine at the Tarzana Treatment Center, where Ventura County adolescents are sent for inpatient treatment, said Stewart Sokol, director of youth services there. Many are mixing massive quantities with alcohol, he said.
Such abuse more prevalent
"Part of the increase is that we're identifying the use of over-the-counter drugs more," Sokol said. "We've recognized that over-the-counter drug abuse is just as severe as illegal drug abuse."
Bonnie Blue, 19, said she moved to Ventura three years ago and began taking over-the-counter drugs to get high. It's not just one or two teenagers taking them, she said. "You see it all the time.
"It's just something they can go to the store and buy, can keep it in their bathroom, and people just think it's cold medicine," Blue said.
Blue now works with a Ventura County group called Straight Up, which runs workshops and other programs targeting underage and binge drinking.
Schools that Byrd had attended were informed Thursday morning that a former student had died, and the campuses made counselors available to students and staff, said Trudy Tuttle Arriaga, Ventura Unified School District superintendent.
Byrd had attended Anacapa Middle School in Ventura and started the ninth grade at Buena High School this fall, Arriaga said. She apparently left the school a few months ago, but Arriaga didn't know where Byrd went.
On Thursday afternoon, no one was home at the apartment on Rose Circle where the youths had partied. Barbara Price, who lives in the same apartment complex, said the place is usually quiet.
Price said the boy and his grandmother moved in about six weeks ago, and since then, a group of kids started hanging around skateboarding and "being silly like teenagers."
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007...een-in-ventura/ (http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/apr/13/drug-mix-may-have-killed-teen-in-ventura/)