[nigtv]

It was the talk of the playground, in the halls and in the classrooms at Pioneer Middle School in Cooper City - four classmates who overdosed on cough medicine.

"I really wish they would not have done it. It's a bad thing for our school and it's bad for their health," said 6th grader Megan Tompkins.

On Wednesday two 8th grade students and a 7th grader were taken to area hospitals, another 7th grader was sent home, after they reportedly overdosed on over-the-counter cough medicine. The Broward Sheriff's Office declined to say which over-the-counter cough medicine was consumed.

On the streets and in the playground it's known as Triple C's or Skittles. The term "Triple C" refers to cough medicine; it was derived from Coricidin Cough and Cold, a common over-the-counter antihistamine medication which contains an ingredient called dextromethorphan which can give you a "high" and make you hallucinate if taken in large quantities.

Misuse can also lead to cardiac arrest and death.

At Pioneer Middle, CBS4 asked a number of students if this type of drug use was common at their school. While most said no, they also knew exactly what the pill popping trend was about.

"It's cough medicine or something like that, it's like over-the-counter at pharmacies at Walgreens," said one student. "It's really easy to get for adults and pass it over to their kids and they don't even know about it."

After hearing the news about Wednesday's incident, many parents dropping their kids off at Pioneer Middle Thursday morning wondered just how widespread the problem is in schools today.

"I think a lot of parents including myself are in the dark about it," said Jim Tompkins. "They don't want to believe its happening with their kids, but I think it's very prevalent."

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