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11-19-2004, 08:44 AM
Forums"Noticed in the Globe-News that the city voted for a fare increase for Amarillo taxi service. Just wondering if there is any standards for the cars the companies use- have you seen some of the old beat up cars that are used as taxis here?" - From q-tip [Join this discussion]
Parents may want to keep a close watch on their medicine as well as their liquor.
Teens may be hitting cold and cough medicine to get high.
The defendant in a recent court case testified he would often take up to 30 tablets of the cough medicine Coricidin to hallucinate.
Joshua Lee Adams, 20, was allegedly high on that when the car he was driving hit and killed Gerald Durant Grooms, who was driving a motorcycle on April 14, 2003, off Farm-to-Market Road 1541 and Plantation Road.
A jury found Adams guilty of intoxication manslaughter and sentenced him to seven years in prison and a $7,000 fine earlier this week.
Randall County Criminal District Attorney James Farren said he was surprised area teens were abusing these common over-the-counter meds.
"If I didn't know it, how many parents don't know it?" he said.
These cough medicines have DXM, dextromethorphan, as a primary active ingredient. DXM acts as a psychedelic similar to LCD and PCP.
But some of these cough medicines, including Coricidin, mix DXM with an anticholinergic, chlorpheniramine maleate, that interacts with DXM in a harmful manner, causing problems with liver enzymes.
Some medicines contain acetaminophen, an overdose of which can cause liver damage or death, or guaifenesin, which may cause vomiting.
Farren said these drugs affect motor skills, resulting in slurred speech, difficulty walking, impairments in vision and rational thinking.
"If I didn't know it, how many parents don't know it?"
Some side effects include panic attacks, high blood pressure, high body temperatures, psychotic breaks, depression and respiratory depression.
Since the drug is legal, it's difficult to track overdoses, but people have died from using the drug.
During Adams' trial, a former friend, Abbey O'Brien, now 19, testified both she and Adams ended up in the hospital after an overdose of Coricidin.
O'Brien spent three days in a coma and 22 hours on a ventilator, she said.
Nearly half of the people the two often did Coricidin with were also hospitalized. But most, including O'Brien and Adams, kept taking it.
"Bad decisions," she said.
The two testified they took Coricidin in large doses to "trip," or hallucinate. They said the drug impaired their motor skills and caused them to feel intoxicated.
Triste Tach, director of program services at the Amarillo Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, said she's not seen an abundance of people using these medicines, but suspects some of those addicted to alcohol or other drugs may have started on cough medicine when they were younger.
"It could be a starting point," she said.
Tach said parents should keep in touch with their kids, look out for symptoms like dizziness, nausea, disorientation, sweating or vision impairments.
And parents should watch their medicine cabinets.
"Keep a close eye on it and check the levels on your bottles," she said.
May there always be work for your hands to do;
May your purse always hold a coin or two;
May the sun always shine on your windowpane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May the Goddess fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
<span style=\'color:green\'>Love is the quickest way to hate and regret.</span>
<span style=\'color:red\'>My names Tim and I'm a criminal,
In the eyes of society I need to be in jail
For the choice of herbs I inhale.</span>
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urple\'>"Do not cease to drink beer, to eat, to intoxicate thyself, to make love, and to celebrate the good days." -- Ancient Egyptian Credo</span></span>
