Don't let youth get high on something meant to do good

October 23, 2007 - 5:35PM
Jessica Castro thought her friends were "playing around" when they told her they drank cough medicine to get high. But they weren't. Castro's friends are among the millions of teens nationwide abusing over-the-counter cough medicines containing dextromethorphan (DXM).

"They think it's just a little drug that's not really affecting them, but it really is," said the 16-year-old Cibola High School student.

Castro, a member of Cibola's Health Career Club, attended a town hall meeting Tuesday morning in Yuma organized by the Yuma Community Action Coalition to bring awareness on cough medicine abuse and how to take action to prevent it.

With a new generation of teens comes new trends, including new drugs to get high, said Doreen Lewis, chief executive officer for Community Intervention Associates (CIA), an agency that provides outpatient behavioral health treatment and substance abuse services.

With the large number of youth treated at CIA, Lewis is aware of the growing problem of cough medicine abuse.

"It can't get easier than getting it from the medicine cabinet," Lewis said.

Taking high doses of DXM causes the abuser to have an ecstasy-like high accompanied by effects like mild distortions of color and sound, strong visual hallucinations, "out-of-body" sensations, confusion, slurred speech and loss of motor control, Lewis said.

Abuse of cough medicine can lead to serious side effects which can worsen if the medicine is taken with a combination of other medications, alcohol or illegal drugs, Lewis said.

Some Internet sites promote misuse of cough medicine and even show youths how to consume it.

"I never hear (of cough medicine abuse) from parents or teachers, I've only heard it from friends who are abusing it," Castro admitted.

Teens can purchase DXM products from retail stores and the Internet with no questions asked, Lewis said. And Castro said she knows of teens who steal the drug from stores.

Because it's easily accessible and legal to purchase, teens can think that cough medicine is not as dangerous as street drugs, Lewis said.

Community professionals, parents, military personnel, Yuma Regional Medical Center staff, students, law enforcement and lawmakers attended the town hall meeting. Among them was state Sen. Amanda Aguirre, who said legislation to regulate cough medicine sales may be an option to prevent abuse.

Somerton Justice of the Peace Jorge Lozano agreed with Aguirre but said a law is not the only answer to this problem - other initiatives, like getting more parental involvement, are needed.

Castro thought the town hall meeting would be useful to other teens since they're the ones directly affected by cough medicine abuse, she said.

Castro and other members of the Health Career Club will take what they learned from the meeting back to school and create a presentation about the dangers of cough medicine, she said.

Lewis hopes these types of meetings will mobilize the community to bring prevention education to teens by educating adults in the community and hosting even more round-tables in the future.

The meeting was sponsored by Project HERO, a Drug-Free Community Support Initiative, The Regional Center for Border Health and Community Intervention Associates.


STATISTICS:
*1 in 3 teens report having a close friend who abuses prescription pain relievers to get high.
*1 in 4 teens report having a close friend who abuses cough medicine to get high.

SOME PRODUCTS CONTAINING DEXTROMETHORPHAN (DXM)
*Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold and Cough Medicine
*Dimetapp DM
*Sudafed Cough Medicine
*Vicks NyQuil and DayQuil
*Vicks 44 Cough Relief products
*Tylenol Cold products
*Triaminic cough syrups
*Robitussin cough products

SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS OF DXM ABUSE CAN INCLUDE:
*Delusions
*Panic attacks
*Memory problems
*Blurred vision
*Stomach pain, nausea and vomiting
*High blood pressure and rapid heart beat
*Numbness of fingers and toes
*Drowsiness and dizziness
*Fever and headaches
*Rashes and itchy skin
*Loss of consciousness

Source: www.doseofprevention.org

PARENTS, TO PREVENT COUGH MEDICINE ABUSE:
•Educate yourself
•Safeguard medicine cabinets
•Talk to your child about over-the-counter and prescription medication abuse
•Monitor Internet use
•Be on the lookout for signs that your child might be using drugs

http://www.yumasun.com/articles/cough_3735...cine_abuse.html