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01-03-2004, 01:09 PM
A LETHAL drugs craze which has killed five children in the US could be copied by youngsters in the UK, parents were last night warned.
Scores of American schoolchildren have been risking their lives by deliberately overdosing on off-the-shelf cough medicines in search of a drugs high.
Children as young as 12 are gulping down the liquid in search of hallucinations, loss of co-ordination or "outer-body" experiences - known as dexing or robo-tripping.
The craze has led to at least five deaths in the US in recent months and dozens of youngsters have ended up dangerously ill in hospital, doctors said.
The medicines of choice are commonly available in supermarkets and do not need a prescription.
It is feared that the craze could catch on in the UK, as other drugs crazes have swept across the Atlantic.
While alcohol has been removed from most cough remedies and medicines containing codeine are available only on prescription, children have been abusing cough medicines containing the substance dextromethorphan, or DXM, which are available off the shelf.
DXM is known to produce hallucinations or loss of motor control if taken in large doses.
Websites telling youngsters exactly how much to take, according to their body weight, to get the "best" results now pepper the internet and there are signs young people in the US are mixing the substance with alcohol, ecstasy and other drugs.
Dr Charles Nozicka, medical director of paediatric emergency medicine at St Alexius Medical Centre, near Chicago, said, there was a lot of information about how to get high on DXM on the internet and he was seeing three or four cases of overdoses a week.
He said, "What we see in the emergency department is probably the tip of the iceberg."
Children abusing the medicines will show signs of sweating, high body temperature, flaky skin, or even an irregular heartbeat. An overdose can cause seizures, comas and death.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/02...-name_page.html (http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/content_objectid=13776288_method=full_siteid=50082 _headline=-Warning-on-US-drugs-craze---name_page.html)
Scores of American schoolchildren have been risking their lives by deliberately overdosing on off-the-shelf cough medicines in search of a drugs high.
Children as young as 12 are gulping down the liquid in search of hallucinations, loss of co-ordination or "outer-body" experiences - known as dexing or robo-tripping.
The craze has led to at least five deaths in the US in recent months and dozens of youngsters have ended up dangerously ill in hospital, doctors said.
The medicines of choice are commonly available in supermarkets and do not need a prescription.
It is feared that the craze could catch on in the UK, as other drugs crazes have swept across the Atlantic.
While alcohol has been removed from most cough remedies and medicines containing codeine are available only on prescription, children have been abusing cough medicines containing the substance dextromethorphan, or DXM, which are available off the shelf.
DXM is known to produce hallucinations or loss of motor control if taken in large doses.
Websites telling youngsters exactly how much to take, according to their body weight, to get the "best" results now pepper the internet and there are signs young people in the US are mixing the substance with alcohol, ecstasy and other drugs.
Dr Charles Nozicka, medical director of paediatric emergency medicine at St Alexius Medical Centre, near Chicago, said, there was a lot of information about how to get high on DXM on the internet and he was seeing three or four cases of overdoses a week.
He said, "What we see in the emergency department is probably the tip of the iceberg."
Children abusing the medicines will show signs of sweating, high body temperature, flaky skin, or even an irregular heartbeat. An overdose can cause seizures, comas and death.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/02...-name_page.html (http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/content_objectid=13776288_method=full_siteid=50082 _headline=-Warning-on-US-drugs-craze---name_page.html)