Law targets ‘robotripping’

[drdªv€]

Children are increasingly abusing cough syrup to “robotrip” but may have a harder time buying the over-the-counter drugs if Gov. Jerry Brown signs a bill that passed out of the state Legislature yesterday.
Senate Bill 514, authored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, will prohibit the sale of over-the-counter cold and cough medicine containing dextromethorphan to minors if Brown signs it into law.
Since the medicine can currently be purchased legally by minors, it is popular as a recreational drug, known by the street names DXM, robo, skittles, triple C, vitamin C, dex and tussin. “Robotripping” is a term coined to describe the high one gets from the drug. The abuse of it among minors has increased 850 percent in the past 10 years, making it the most commonly reported type of abuse among the age group, according to WebMD.
Simitian first proposed the bill seven years ago but faced stiff opposition from the Consumer Healthcare Products Association at the time. The association represents cough syrup manufacturers.
The group, however, is now on board with the legislation.
In addition to supporting both state and federal initiatives to impose age restrictions, the leading makers of cough medicine introduced an educational icon on the packaging of DXM-containing cough suppressants to alert parents to the potential for abuse and offer StopMedicineAbuse.org as a resource for more information, said Elizabeth Funderburk, spokeswoman with CHPA.
“CHPA and its member companies take very seriously our obligation to educate and raise awareness about cough medicine abuse among teens. We were pleased to lend our support to Sen. Simitian’s effort to restrict the sale of cough medicines containing dextromethorphan to adults 18 years of age and older,” Funderburk wrote in an email to the Daily Journal.
Restricting the sale of DXM was a winning submission in Simitian’s 2004 “There Oughta Be a Law” contest from Wayne Benitez and Ron Lawrence, both officers with the Palo Alto Police Department at the time.
Benitez noticed an uptick in the use of cough medicine to get high among teens as he worked as a school officer on a high school campus.
The idea to limit the drug’s sale was ahead of its time back in 2004, Simitian said. Seven years ago, Simitian said most of his colleagues had never heard of “robotripping” or “skittling.” The extent and seriousness of the problem is better understood today, Simitian said.
“Public education has been inadequate to the problem,” Simitian said.
Lawrence is now the police chief in the city of Rocklin and recently testified on the bill’s behalf.
“It is a serious issue, just not on the radar screen of most parents,” Lawrence told the Daily Journal yesterday.
DXM can lead to overdoses and deaths, Lawrence said.
About 100 over-the-counter medicines contain DXM, he said.
“Parents need to know what is in their medicine cabinets,” he said.
Search DXM on the Internet, he said, and you will find websites devoted to getting high off the drug, he said.
“It is cheap and can be bought in mass quantities,” Lawrence said.
Simitian credits both officers for bringing the dangers of the drug to light.
“They saw the problem coming and stepped up early,” Simitian said.
A violation of Senate Bill 514 would be an infraction and it provides an exception for sale to minors with a prescription.



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[maggot titss]

he abuse of it among minors has increased 850 percent in the past 10 years, making it the most commonly reported type of abuse among the age group, according to WebMD.

lol wow

i support this bill because people under the age of 18 do not to be doing drugs, especially DXM. and this is coming from someone who started doing it at age 13, became addicted and ended it all before i turned 18 lol

[CruelPleasure]

What about the parents that are busy doing something and send their children who legitimately need tussin or some form of cough control. But I do see where they are coming from with this, I'm only 20 but still, I'd probably be a lot more sane if they had a bill like this in the past.

[darklife]

I figure it's a good law to pass. If it keeps legislators off of us adults back and helps keep stupid children away from such a powerful mind altering substance then so be it.
Honestly if I was a store manager I wouldn't want some underage kid buying tussin either because if they got sick or died the parents could start a shit storm.
At least in this case law makers are considerate enough to let adults choose for themselves to do whatever they want to their mind and body. Kids under 18 have underdeveloped minds to be fucking around with a hardcore dissociative like DxM and the last thing a community like us needs is more kids dieing from being ignorant and careless with a drug that is easily purchased w/o the cashier batting an eye.
Much like alcohol should only be purchased by adults, cough syrup should be in the same category and if you think I am nuts for saying that remember just how powerful of a drug we are talking about here, and you can't deny that.

[Xvall]

They mostly steal it anyways. From what I can see this just makes it illegal for them to buy (Which is odd, because I more often than not get asked for my ID for purchasing it here in Georgia). The only way, imo, to really ensure no one under 18 gets a hold of it other than the age laws which at least in all the places I go to are already implemented, is to put it behind the counter and force you to ask for it and provide ID so that it deters theft.

[MaslowK]

Yep. If I had actually started doing DXM before I turned 18 and weren't able to buy it, I would just steal it. You'd think they'd rather have more paying customers than more theft eh?

[frasorto]

Originally Posted by drdªv€

850 percent in the past 10 years, making it the most commonly reported type of abuse among the age group, according to WebMD.
Link

i find that weird when i got submitted to right step (rehab) you know b4 they let you in they ask you what you have been using ,when i mentioned dxm they had never heard of the slang dxm and they seemed to not know it was abusable and when i told one of my doctors he thought i was doing it for the alcohol.

[Xvall]

and when i told one of my doctors he thought i was doing it for the alcohol.

Let's keep it that way!

Oh wait, this subforum is public now, isn't it?

[Kazeuri]

If ur a littal kid who have no gone to skewl yet to get a learn of books and math then robotripping mite damages ur brain and u get a legion so i suppport keeping kids offa drugs cuz imma adult n no i do not care 4 ur kids preez.