Easily Accessible Drug Being Abused by Teens

As she lay in a hospital bed after overdosing on cough suppressant pills, a Gainesville teenager knew she had hit rock bottom.

"I felt like my entire life had collapsed," the 15-year-old high school student said. Her eyes glistened with tears as she recalled the night when her addiction to cough medicine nearly killed her.

The teen, whose name is being withheld to protect her identity, drank two bottles of Zicam Cough Mist and took seven Adderral pills and 36 Coricidin HBP Cough & Cold tablets containing the opioid dextromethorphan, or DXM, before blacking out and having multiple seizures one day in September.

"I'm still a child, but now I will have this cloud over my head for the rest of my life," the girl said. "Luckily, I didn't die."

Getting high off DXM is popular among some teens in Gainesville, the girl said. She also said the intense tripping experience and feeling of being in a "happier, different world," appeals to teens.

And finding the drug wasn't hard either, she said.

DXM is legally sold over the counter and is found in many households. The girl said she was getting high daily without her mother knowing, since the drug has few noticeable side effects.

"I'd go to the drug store (with an 18-year-old friend) and get them, or she'd steal them," the teen said. "It was easy. A lot of kids are doing it, and there's so much pressure to take all kinds of drugs in school."

The drug has been around since 1958, when the Food and Drug Administration approved it for over-the-counter sale as a cough suppressant. DXM is found in more than 200 different brands. Teens call the drug "C-C-C," "Robo" and "Skittles."

While the drug is relatively harmless when taken in low dosages, it is can kill if ingested in high dosages with other drugs or alcohol, said Dr. Liam Holtzman, associate director of the Emergency Department at Shands at the University of Florida.

From the time that DXM is ingested, it takes 30 minutes to feel its effects - usually a prolonged feeling of euphoria - that can last up to six hours. Teens as young as age 11 are taking the drug for recreational use - often without their parents knowledge, Holtzman said. He said teens often take a few thousand milligrams of DXM to get high, depending on their length of use and body size. That can translate into 20 to 30 or more tablets.

"It's in your home and it can be bought at the drug store, so it's readily accessible," Holtzman said. "Aside from sporadic reports in the news, (DXM) is relatively unknown to parents."

Susan, the mother of the Gainesville teen who overdosed on the drug, said she was unaware her daughter was taking the drug.

Before she took DXM, the girl said she had experimented at age 13 with marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy - right beneath her mother's nose.

"When I thought about what could've happened and that she could've died," Susan choked, "it was an eye-opening experience. You never think anything like this would happen to my daughter."

Her daughter isn't alone.
In 2005, one in 10 teens reported abusing cough medicine to get high, according to a survey of 7,300 teenagers by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America released earlier this year.

In an effort to curb recreational abuse of DXM, federal lawmakers in May proposed a bill that would impose restrictions on the bulk distribution of DXM in its powdered form. The proposal came after news reports linked online purchases of the medication to several deaths.

In January, two Indianapolis men were charged with selling the drug on a Web site after five teens died from overdoses of DXM shipments linked to the site, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Gainesville Police Lt. Bart Knowles, commander of the narcotics unit, said he hasn't seen a surge in DXM abuse among teens recently. But that doesn't mean it's not happening, he said.

"What makes it so difficult to stop is that it's a legal substance," Knowles said. "All you can do is to call (teens') parents."

After watching her daughter's close call, Susan said she hopes parents can learn from her family's pain and prevent someone from losing their child.

"I am so worried that we will continue to see young, beautiful teenagers end up in the (emergency room)," Susan said. "I also fear that one of them will have taken too much to be saved."