Bill Would Ban Minors Buying Cough Medicine

[drdªv€]

Minors would be prohibited from buying medicine containing a popular cough suppressant ingredient without a prescription, under legislation proposed by a Bay Area lawmaker.

Assembly Bill 1853 is a measure to counter a growing trend among teenagers to get "high" by taking over-the-counter cough and cold medicines containing dextromethorphan, also known as DXM. The ingredient is a cough suppressant, but teens have found that by taking more of the medicine than recommended, they can achieve a high. The abuse is called "robotripping" or "tussing", after the cough medicine Robotussin. The consumption of Coricidin cold tablets with DXM, also known as "triple Cs" and "skittles" is another method.

Bay Area police report instances of teenagers having seizures and even heart attacks from DXM abuse.

The first hearing for AB 1853 is scheduled before the Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday. The bill proposes prohibiting the sale of medicines containing DXM to persons under age 18, unless they have a valid prescription. Its author, Assemblyman Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, expects drug companies and retailers to oppose it.

Read Story Here: http://www.kxtv10.com/storyfull.asp?id=6703
Read Assembly Bill 1853: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_...introduced.html (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_1851-1900/ab_1853_bill_20040129_introduced.html)

[ShopLifter Jack]

Thank God I'm 18 :pr0zac:

lol but on a more serious note, I REALLY hope that bill doesn't go through; shit, dude, if that does, I think a couple of things might happen-
1) Underage kids will begin stealing differant otc products, with or withOUT DXM;
2) More people than neccasary will learn about dxm's dissasociative properties, and we'd have a large amount of (besides mediabiased) un-educated people out there doing dxm one way or another, and who knows what'll happen of the side effects of people not realising dosing calculations, time lapses, etc. As well, the more coverage dxm gets, the worse the situation is beginning to look; I mean, of course it's extremely unlikely that dxm will be illegal, ANY TIME SOON, if not ever (the only case I can think of would be if a better cough suppresant surfaced, and even then, there'd probably be some room for manuevering into "drug-abuse".

And what happens if this plan DOES go through, and/or actually DOES work? What if more and more states start to adopt this policy? Sure, a lot of the DVers are 18+, or if not at least have friends over 18, but this wouldn't be good. Then again, though, if it at least SEEMS to work, maybe the spotlight will be taken away from the real culture derived from dxm? Only time will tell, and only being responsible will help.

And on a lighter note, at least they're not raising prices :P !

[Walkaway]

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As RFG pointed out on Usenet, this bill would also restrict the sale of Dramamine to minors.
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Namaste,
Cliff

[cindowsxp]

I would approve of the bill, I think it would stop the stupidity of young teens telling each other, hey lets get high off skittles, ccc's, robotussin, whatever, then OD'ing. THATS THE PROBLEM, isn't it? that is the majority of the problem from what I keep reading, I agree with it and I support it.

[HeadOnAStick]

God Bless Canada

:pr0zac: