drdĒv
05-07-2007, 07:31 AM
Banning DXM sales to teens may help fight drug abuse, but the bigger problem is with legal prescriptions
May 7, 2007
If it passes later this month, a bill introduced by Suffolk County Legis. Lynne Nowick (R-St. James) will ban the sale of DXM products to minors. What could be bad about that?
DXM, the common name for dextromethorphan, is a substance found in over-the-counter cough and cold medications such as Robitussin, Dimetapp DM, and Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough Medicine. Teens are guzzling the stuff for a cheap and legal high. They're also popping DXM pill products such as Coricidin Cough & Cold Tablets. And, with more frequency, they're overdosing on them.
The Long Island Poison Control Center at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola reported 40 instances of DXM abuse by adolescents in 2000, half requiring hospitalization. Last year there were 76 cases, with 62 requiring hospitalization, and for the first three months of this year, there were 28 cases, 17 requiring hospitalization.
Nationally, reports the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, one out of 10 teens, or more than 2 million kids, have abused cough medicine to get high. Taken in large doses, experts say, DXM can cause seizures, irregular heartbeat, respiratory distress and other problems.
I can't argue with Nowick's proposal: It would become more challenging for kids to buy the stuff. But let's not high-five each other just yet.
How much should we be relying on pharmacy cashiers to police our teens' behavior? And we all know that designating a substance illegal hasn't proved to be much of a deterrent. Cases in point: marijuana, ecstasy, crack, heroin, crystal meth and a slew of other illicit drugs.
But my biggest worry is that this legislation could give parents a dangerously false sense of security. DXM intoxication is dwarfed by a mountainous teen drug problem - recreational and reckless use of wholly legal prescription drugs such as Vicodin, Paxil, Prozac, Xanax, Zoloft, Effexor and others.
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America says that one in five U.S. teens has abused prescription pain medications, stimulants and tranquilizers. Because these are prescribed by a doctor, kids perceive them to be safe. After all, mom and dad take them. At the same time, physicians increasingly are prescribing drugs for teens themselves to help with anxiety, attention span problems, social phobia and the like.
And the pharmaceutical industry has done a fabulous job of hyping the benefits of prescription drugs on television commercials since 1997, when the Food and Drug Administration allowed direct-to-consumer advertising of these medications.
Where are teens getting these prescription drugs? Typically, right in mom and dad's bathroom medicine cabinet, next to the DXM-laced Sudafed and Tylenol. They also can easily order them over the Internet, without having to provide identification.
The drugs are passed around like breath mints and ingested in sometimes lethal combinations as "cocktails" at parties. But they're not just party drugs. Kids are also taking them and then attending school and passing out. What's worse, they're driving under the influence of meds that can cause hallucinogenic states.
It's impossible to create laws that will prevent kids from taking mouthfuls of legal prescription drugs. We are able to restrict sales to minors of consumer products such as cigarettes and alcohol. But if kids are getting drugs from their own homes that are in their parents' legal possession, how can that be regulated?
That's why Nowick's proposed law, IR-1170, addresses only DXM abuse. It's a well-intentioned, small step in the right direction, and it ought to pass. She says she'd like to conduct town meetings to educate the public further about the dangers of DXM, and perhaps set up meetings with school superintendents to make them aware as well. That's all terrific.
But one can only hope that other Long Islanders will note the looming prescription-drug crisis and take some kind of action, perhaps by organizing community-awareness programs, public service campaigns, school-related programs and, most important, educational efforts geared toward parents, who may be largely unaware of their children's actions.
Research shows that parents are the No. 1 influencers in our children's lives - more so than any advertising or marketing or even laws.
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-opco...ny-health-print (http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-opcop075202596may07,0,5547463.story?coll=ny-health-print)
May 7, 2007
If it passes later this month, a bill introduced by Suffolk County Legis. Lynne Nowick (R-St. James) will ban the sale of DXM products to minors. What could be bad about that?
DXM, the common name for dextromethorphan, is a substance found in over-the-counter cough and cold medications such as Robitussin, Dimetapp DM, and Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough Medicine. Teens are guzzling the stuff for a cheap and legal high. They're also popping DXM pill products such as Coricidin Cough & Cold Tablets. And, with more frequency, they're overdosing on them.
The Long Island Poison Control Center at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola reported 40 instances of DXM abuse by adolescents in 2000, half requiring hospitalization. Last year there were 76 cases, with 62 requiring hospitalization, and for the first three months of this year, there were 28 cases, 17 requiring hospitalization.
Nationally, reports the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, one out of 10 teens, or more than 2 million kids, have abused cough medicine to get high. Taken in large doses, experts say, DXM can cause seizures, irregular heartbeat, respiratory distress and other problems.
I can't argue with Nowick's proposal: It would become more challenging for kids to buy the stuff. But let's not high-five each other just yet.
How much should we be relying on pharmacy cashiers to police our teens' behavior? And we all know that designating a substance illegal hasn't proved to be much of a deterrent. Cases in point: marijuana, ecstasy, crack, heroin, crystal meth and a slew of other illicit drugs.
But my biggest worry is that this legislation could give parents a dangerously false sense of security. DXM intoxication is dwarfed by a mountainous teen drug problem - recreational and reckless use of wholly legal prescription drugs such as Vicodin, Paxil, Prozac, Xanax, Zoloft, Effexor and others.
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America says that one in five U.S. teens has abused prescription pain medications, stimulants and tranquilizers. Because these are prescribed by a doctor, kids perceive them to be safe. After all, mom and dad take them. At the same time, physicians increasingly are prescribing drugs for teens themselves to help with anxiety, attention span problems, social phobia and the like.
And the pharmaceutical industry has done a fabulous job of hyping the benefits of prescription drugs on television commercials since 1997, when the Food and Drug Administration allowed direct-to-consumer advertising of these medications.
Where are teens getting these prescription drugs? Typically, right in mom and dad's bathroom medicine cabinet, next to the DXM-laced Sudafed and Tylenol. They also can easily order them over the Internet, without having to provide identification.
The drugs are passed around like breath mints and ingested in sometimes lethal combinations as "cocktails" at parties. But they're not just party drugs. Kids are also taking them and then attending school and passing out. What's worse, they're driving under the influence of meds that can cause hallucinogenic states.
It's impossible to create laws that will prevent kids from taking mouthfuls of legal prescription drugs. We are able to restrict sales to minors of consumer products such as cigarettes and alcohol. But if kids are getting drugs from their own homes that are in their parents' legal possession, how can that be regulated?
That's why Nowick's proposed law, IR-1170, addresses only DXM abuse. It's a well-intentioned, small step in the right direction, and it ought to pass. She says she'd like to conduct town meetings to educate the public further about the dangers of DXM, and perhaps set up meetings with school superintendents to make them aware as well. That's all terrific.
But one can only hope that other Long Islanders will note the looming prescription-drug crisis and take some kind of action, perhaps by organizing community-awareness programs, public service campaigns, school-related programs and, most important, educational efforts geared toward parents, who may be largely unaware of their children's actions.
Research shows that parents are the No. 1 influencers in our children's lives - more so than any advertising or marketing or even laws.
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-opco...ny-health-print (http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-opcop075202596may07,0,5547463.story?coll=ny-health-print)