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Parents have their hands full trying to keep kids away from alcohol, smoking and drugs. Now there's yet another substance that teens are using to get high — legally. They're taking big doses of ordinary cold medicine. The ingredient that gives kids a high is dextromethorphan, or DXM. It suppresses coughs safely, but in large amounts it produces a chemical imbalance in the brain that allows the kids to get high.
Dextromethorphan is in more than cold medicines, not just Coricidin, but one type of Coricidin has the particular cocktail of ingredients that the kids prefer. This week, the American Association of Poison Control reported teen abuse of these types of over-the-counter cold medications has doubled in the last four years. Molly, 17, described how taking a large dose of the pills made her feel, "You turn your head and everything went in slow motion.
It was like you were in The Matrix or something. The abuse of Coricidin is so appealing, kids say, where can i buy coricidin liquid it's easy to get, it's legal, and parents and teachers usually don't have any idea they're taking it. If you can find a Walgreen's or a grocery store, you're set," said Jeff Helgeson, a year-old from Minneapolis. Helgeson says he's been getting high on Coricidin for four years. Some kids call the habit "skittling," because the pills look like the popular candy Skittles.
Jason, a year-old from Seattle, said he liked the feeling so much he took the pills every day for five months. Another teen, Kevin, said he took Coricidin for a year and a half. When parents see that their kids have cold pills, they don't think twice. It's just cold medicine, after all; it seems innocent where can i buy coricidin liquid. School principal Judi Hanson says she's finding that Coricidin is becoming kids' drug of choice. It's easier to conceal. There's no smell, there's no dealing with a dealer.
It makes it hard to detect. But Jason's father, Pat, noticed his son seemed stoned when he came home with friends and he confronted him. Jason finally admitted to abusing the medicine. Like many parents, Pat where can i buy coricidin liquid know kids could get high on cold pills. Often the kids don't even buy the Coricidin — they steal it. Helgeson said he stole it. The shoplifting has led some stores to move that type of Coricidin behind the where can i buy coricidin liquid.
James Holm, a pharmacist at a Hopkins, Minn. As the kids talked about getting stoned, there was a lot of laughter, even when they talked about accidents and injuries they suffered while taking the pills. Helgeson laughed as he talked about breaking his elbow and ankle while snowboarding and skateboarding when he was high on Coricidin.
Sometimes they laughed about not getting caught. Helgeson said he drag-raced a police car, and where can i buy coricidin liquid it was funny the officers couldn't tell he was high when they pulled him over. I hadn't been drinking. I didn't have any drugs on me. As the younger kids continued to laugh about their experiences, we noticed that Helgeson seemed sort of separate from them. Helgeson says it's still fun when he takes Coricidin, but he says it's wrecked his life.
His mom has to drive him places because he'll lose his license if he gets another ticket. He dropped out of school and now lives at home, spending most of his time playing his guitar or just sitting.
Jeff Helgeson has a twin brother, John, a junior at the University of Wisconsin, whose life is good. His mom says Jeff "always has a reminder right in front of him of where he would be right now if he were not doing Coricidin. And Jeff doesn't seem happy with himself. It took all my friends away from me. I threw my life away. Failing grades or a trip to the hospital is sometimes what it takes to alert kids and their parents to the danger.
Doctors say they're seeing more and more kids in emergency rooms who've taken too much Coricidin. Over the last three years, there's been approximately a percent increase in calls to poison control centers about dextramethorphan, said Dr.
Edward Boyer, an emergency room physician in Massachusetts. Boyer says the kids who come in to the emergency room are agitated, difficult to control, sweating and unresponsive when you try to speak to them.
They told Ashley's mom they were going to bed. Instead they took Coricidin, sneaked out of their house, and went to a party where they took more Coricidin. So me and Molly were literally trying to rip the package open with our teeth," Ashley said. They went to a boy's house where Ashley may have had sex, but she doesn't know. But I fell asleep. Later, a hospital test revealed she and the boy had not had sex. She and Molly did get home and later went to sleep.
But by morning, they were still very high. The Coricidin high can last a day. Ashley's mom called the poison control center and was told to get the girls to the hospital. At least five people have died after taking Coricidin, but even death doesn't seem to scare the kids. Jason had heard about a boy who died, but said he knows that the boy took the type of Coricidin that contains acetaminophen. And he knows not to take that type. He's right, because acetaminophen can cause liver damage or death when taken in large doses.
Boyer said, "If you where can i buy coricidin liquid to kids, they where can i buy coricidin liquid they should take the stuff that doesn't have acetaminophen in it.
It's hard to believe the kids know which type of medicine is going to hurt them less. But Boyer where can i buy coricidin liquid he believes they do, and he says they can get a lot of information from an online drug encyclopedia called Erowid. While Erowid warns that high doses of acetaminophen can be fatal, the Web site appears to have been written by drug users.
They describe first-time experiences, and suggest dosages — and in the case of Coricidin, warn of its dangers. In fact, you can get more information from these than you get from the government's drug-abuse Web site, Boyer said. Some parents say Coricidin, because it's so accessible, is worse than other drugs.
They want it taken off store shelves. But the company that makes Coricidin, Schering-Plough HealthCare Products, said removing it from the shelves would deny cold sufferers access to a helpful medication. It also said putting it behind the counter would deprive those who need it. Wal-Mart's policy is to sell it only to customers 18 or older, and the chain limits the number of boxes people can buy to three. Still, kids who want to abuse the medicine can still find it in stores or buy it over the Internet.
Ultimately, making the decision not to abuse the medicine will be up to the kids. Ashley said it's difficult to stop taking it once you get where can i buy coricidin liquid. Dextromethorphan where can i buy coricidin liquid not physically addictive. Ashley and Molly have now stopped taking it. Jason has been clean since June, and Kevin for almost a year.
But Jeff Helgeson still uses. Or drugs in general," he said. Poison Control Information is the hour emergency number to call to find a poison control center your area. Poison control centers have additional information concerning abuse and misuse of cold medicines containing dextromethorphan.
Click here where can i buy coricidin liquid information on your local poison control center. Parents, Teachers Often Unaware of Abuse When parents see that their kids have cold pills, they don't think twice. So they didn't know," he said. Abuse on the Rise Failing grades or a trip to the hospital is sometimes what it takes to alert kids and their parents to the danger. Molly and Ashley had a recent close call. Sometimes Deadly Consequences At least five people have died after taking Coricidin, but even death doesn't seem to scare the kids.
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