S.C. retailers target cold pill abuse

Posted on Thu, Aug. 12, 2004


Many restrict access to some over-the-counter drugs, limit amount customers can buy at once

By TANYA FOGG YOUNG

Staff Writer


Shoppers wanting to stockpile certain medicines for the cough-and-cold season have a bitter pill to swallow.

Several drugstore chains and other retailers in South Carolina are increasingly limiting the amount of some over-the-counter medicines that can be bought at one time, responding to reports of rising abuse of the legal drugs. Some stores do not allow anyone younger than 18 to buy certain medications.

Drugstore retailer Walgreens recently went a step further. With Coricidin HBP Cough & Cold, a pill in vogue among some teen users, the company began restricting access to the drug in the store. The retailer moved the cold tablets from the shelves to behind the pharmacy counter in its stores in Columbia and elsewhere.

“Stores were noticing teens shoplifting them or buying a bunch of packages,” Walgreens spokeswoman Carol Hively said. “Unfortunately, when you move it to the pharmacy, it’s not as convenient for customers” who use the medicine for its intended purpose.

Placing the Coricidin HBP behind the pharmacy counter makes it easier to monitor who is buying the product and how much of it, Hively said. No more than two packages can be bought at one time.

No national agency keeps track of Coricidin abuse, but poison control centers nationwide report growing numbers of teens overdosing on Coricidin.

The cough-and-cold drug intended for those with high blood pressure is more dangerous than other over-the-counter medicines because it contains the most dextromethorphan. It also is easier to take in large quantities than many other cold medicines because it is in a pill form.

At very high doses, the chemical dextromethorphan can cause an irregular heartbeat, loss of consciousness, seizures, brain damage and death, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

U.S. poison-control centers logged 3,200 calls related to dextromethorphan in 2003 — twice as many calls as in 2001. The chemical can be found in more than 120 products, experts say.

“What they’re primarily going for are hallucinations,” said Dr. Brooks Metts, director of the Palmetto Poison Control Center in USC’s College of Pharmacy. “But to get these effects, you have to take large quantities approaching toxic doses.”

AGE LIMITS

Coricidin HBP Cough & Cold, at about $7 for a blister pack of 16 to 24 tablets, is just one of the most recent over-the-counter medicines to be abused.

Many retailers also increasingly set age limits and control the quantities that can be bought of more than 100 different cold medicines containing another chemical, pseudoephedrine. That substance is a key ingredient in making the highly addictive and illegal drug methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine — whether ingested, smoked or injected — can lead to stroke. Chronic use can inflame the lining of the heart, while overdoses can cause hypothermia, convulsions and death.

Meanwhile, most over-the-counter medicines containing dextromethorphan — the key ingredient in Coricidin — are not restricted. Some common brand names that include dextromethorphan are Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough Medicine, Dimetapp DM, Robitussin cough products and Sudafed cough products.

Retailers often do not bother restricting access to these medicines because of their smaller amounts of dextromethorphan compared with Coricidin.

Also, guzzling the large amounts of cough syrup needed for a high can be rough on the stomach, say some experts, including Partnership for a Drug-Free America. They say that is why some abusers have opted for dextromethorphan in a pill form, such as Coricidin.

Since April 2001, Wal-Mart customers can buy no more than three packs of Coricidin HBP and have to be 18 or older, said Christi Gallagher, a spokeswoman for the retailer.

This past spring, CVS began imposing an age restriction on buying Coricidin but does not limit quantities, said Mike DeAngelis, the drugstore chain’s spokesman.

‘SKITTLING’

Coricidin’s little round red pills that look like candy have been used by some for “skittling” — popping them by the handful among other methods — in the quest for a hallucinogenic high.

Although there is evidence of an increase, abuse of over-the-counter medicines is hardly a new phenomenon, said Metts, director of the Palmetto Poison Control Center at USC. Dextromethorphan has been an active ingredient in cough syrup since the 1970s, when the chemical replaced codeine.

“What’s new now is that the Internet tells you how to abuse it,” he said. “Some Web sites give specific directions on how much to do for your body weight, et cetera.”

Several Web sites advocating illicit use of the drug include dosing calculators. Step-by-step instructions on how to extract the ingredient from the tablet and what to mix it with for a high read like a chemistry lab experiment.

Each little red Coricidin cough-and-cold pill contains 30 milligrams of dextromethorphan. The drug’s manufacturer, Schering-Plough, recommends not taking more than four tablets during a 24-hour period .

One illicit-use Web site recommended doubling that amount in one sitting and to “take more if you don’t feel anything within a(n) hour.”

Link: http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/9378056.htm

[jersey_emt]

“What they’re primarily going for are hallucinations,” said Dr. Brooks Metts, director of the Palmetto Poison Control Center in USC’s College of Pharmacy. “But to get these effects, you have to take large quantities approaching toxic doses.”

Hmm, that's funny, I get hallucinations on what is considered to be 1/7 - 1/10 the 'toxic dose'

[noAnchor]

"The cough-and-cold drug intended for those with high blood pressure is more dangerous than other over-the-counter medicines because it contains the most dextromethorphan"

[Marowana]

“What’s new now is that the Internet tells you how to abuse it,” he said. “Some Web sites give specific directions on how much to do for your body weight, et cetera.”

OMG! Educating people regarding the safe use of psychoactive substances, how could they do such a thing!?!?!

“What they’re primarily going for are hallucinations,” said Dr. Brooks Metts

You are incorrect, sir.

"The cough-and-cold drug intended for those with high blood pressure is more dangerous than other over-the-counter medicines because it contains the most dextromethorphan"

magnus_grey.gif magnus_grey.gif magnus_grey.gif

I'm pretty sure they don't mean it's intended to treat high blood pressure, but rather that it's a viable alternative to pseudoephedrine for treating cough and cold symptoms in individuals with elevated blood pressure. At least, I sincerely hope that's what they mean.

[neko]

still nowhere near as bad as britain... EVERYTHING's behind the counter, and you have almost no chance of being sold more than one bottle at a time... or even the next day. and it has nothing to do with people using it recreationally, it's ALL behind the counter. i guess they assume people are too stupid to manage their own medication, you'll get asked questions when buying a bottle of pepto bismol, i shit you not.

HEALTH AND SAFETY!

[ranticalion]

I like how they try to make a connection between DXM and methamphetamine. fools

I don't like how they blame the DXM in Coricidin for all the negative side effects. It's the shit that doesn't get you high that kills you...

[mcdrewbie]

Good thing walmart still lets be buy as many robogels as i want.

And good thing they don't mention that CCC's are dangerous because of the other active ingredient, not the dxm.

[libel]

wtf @ taking more if you dont feel it in an hour