drdĒv
04-19-2007, 07:34 AM
Sick over son's use of medicine for high
April 19, 2007
When Denise Angelinas discovered earlier this year her 16-year-old son was getting high on Coricidin, an over-the-counter cough and cold remedy, the Lindenhurst woman went to a CVS and two Eckerd stores in the area and removed it and similar medicines from the shelves.
Angelinas, taking the medicines to the managers in the Eckerd stores and a CVS employee, pleaded with the store managers to keep the cold remedies away from children, explaining that her son, Nicholas, and other teenagers were ingesting Coricidin and similar cold remedies containing the cough suppressant dextromethorphan to get high.
Abuse of dextromethorphan can cause brain damage, seizure and death, according to the federal government.
"My son is going to die from these pills," Angelinas recalled telling the Eckerd store manager on Park Avenue in Lindenhurst. "I was desperate. "
On Jan. 23, the day after Angelinas said she made her plea, Suffolk police charged Nicholas with petty larceny for allegedly stealing 14 boxes of Coricidin, worth $168, from that same Eckerd shop. Angelinas said her son took four to six boxes.
Angelinas failed to get Eckerd and CVS to restrict access to cold remedies, but soon drug chains and pharmacies operating in Suffolk might not have a choice. A bill that would ban the sale of medicines containing dextromethorphan to anyone 18 and under will be discussed today by the legislature's health committee.
"I was thrilled when I found out somebody is doing something about it," said Angelinas.
The Eckerd manager in Lindenhurst and company spokeswoman Helen Bisson declined to discuss the charge against Nicholas. Bisson said Eckerd later this month would join other drug retailers in asking for identification to make sure customers are at least 18.
Passage of Suffolk's bill, proposed by Legis. Lynne Nowick (R-St. James), would make the county the first New York municipality to impose a ban, and thrust it to the forefront of a nationwide movement to prevent minors from buying cough and cold remedies.
Similar proposals are pending in Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Oklahoma, said a trade group for makers of over-the-counter medicines.
There were 76 cases of teens last year abusing dextromethorphan in Suffolk, Nassau and Westchester counties, according to the Long Island Regional Poison and Drug Information Center at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola.
Nicholas, a freshman at West Babylon High School, said he began abusing Coricidin after Christmas. He began taking two pills at a time but quickly jumped to eight a day, then 16.
During one class, Nicholas thought a pail was a dog and told a substitute teacher the dog was attacking him. "She was, like, what are you talking about? " Nicholas said.
Then the bell rang, signaling the end of the second period, and Nicholas said he took off.
At first, he used Christmas gift money to buy Coricidin. When that ran out, he spent his lunch money of $3 to $4 a day. Nicholas said that when that wasn't enough to satisfy his "addiction," he shoplifted.
An offer by family members to pay for the Coricidin failed to get Eckerd to drop the charge against him. If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail.
On Jan. 30, Angelinas declared Nicholas a danger to himself and had him committed to South Oaks Hospital in Amityville, where he began drug rehab that he continues on an outpatient basis.
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-lico...ny-health-print (http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-licoug195177389apr19,0,5321003.story?coll=ny-health-print)
April 19, 2007
When Denise Angelinas discovered earlier this year her 16-year-old son was getting high on Coricidin, an over-the-counter cough and cold remedy, the Lindenhurst woman went to a CVS and two Eckerd stores in the area and removed it and similar medicines from the shelves.
Angelinas, taking the medicines to the managers in the Eckerd stores and a CVS employee, pleaded with the store managers to keep the cold remedies away from children, explaining that her son, Nicholas, and other teenagers were ingesting Coricidin and similar cold remedies containing the cough suppressant dextromethorphan to get high.
Abuse of dextromethorphan can cause brain damage, seizure and death, according to the federal government.
"My son is going to die from these pills," Angelinas recalled telling the Eckerd store manager on Park Avenue in Lindenhurst. "I was desperate. "
On Jan. 23, the day after Angelinas said she made her plea, Suffolk police charged Nicholas with petty larceny for allegedly stealing 14 boxes of Coricidin, worth $168, from that same Eckerd shop. Angelinas said her son took four to six boxes.
Angelinas failed to get Eckerd and CVS to restrict access to cold remedies, but soon drug chains and pharmacies operating in Suffolk might not have a choice. A bill that would ban the sale of medicines containing dextromethorphan to anyone 18 and under will be discussed today by the legislature's health committee.
"I was thrilled when I found out somebody is doing something about it," said Angelinas.
The Eckerd manager in Lindenhurst and company spokeswoman Helen Bisson declined to discuss the charge against Nicholas. Bisson said Eckerd later this month would join other drug retailers in asking for identification to make sure customers are at least 18.
Passage of Suffolk's bill, proposed by Legis. Lynne Nowick (R-St. James), would make the county the first New York municipality to impose a ban, and thrust it to the forefront of a nationwide movement to prevent minors from buying cough and cold remedies.
Similar proposals are pending in Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Oklahoma, said a trade group for makers of over-the-counter medicines.
There were 76 cases of teens last year abusing dextromethorphan in Suffolk, Nassau and Westchester counties, according to the Long Island Regional Poison and Drug Information Center at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola.
Nicholas, a freshman at West Babylon High School, said he began abusing Coricidin after Christmas. He began taking two pills at a time but quickly jumped to eight a day, then 16.
During one class, Nicholas thought a pail was a dog and told a substitute teacher the dog was attacking him. "She was, like, what are you talking about? " Nicholas said.
Then the bell rang, signaling the end of the second period, and Nicholas said he took off.
At first, he used Christmas gift money to buy Coricidin. When that ran out, he spent his lunch money of $3 to $4 a day. Nicholas said that when that wasn't enough to satisfy his "addiction," he shoplifted.
An offer by family members to pay for the Coricidin failed to get Eckerd to drop the charge against him. If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail.
On Jan. 30, Angelinas declared Nicholas a danger to himself and had him committed to South Oaks Hospital in Amityville, where he began drug rehab that he continues on an outpatient basis.
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-lico...ny-health-print (http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-licoug195177389apr19,0,5321003.story?coll=ny-health-print)