Abuse of cough syrup, Ritalin new problem in

BROKEN ARROW (AP) - Authorities suspect teen-agers at a Broken Arrow school are distilling cough syrups into a powder to get high by ingesting the powder in capsules.

Police caught South Intermediate High School students with drugs last month, but didn't identify the substance until recently.

Lab results show the drug found at the school is dextromethorphan, also known as DXM. It's the active ingredient in liquid cough suppressants such as Robitussin and Coricidin.

Authorities say DXM can cause a high similar to LSD if it's taken in large doses.

It's just one of the drugs Broken Arrow school officials are combating.

Last week, a 15-year-old student was arrested for selling Ritalin pills from his prescription. Teens crush the Ritalin, which is prescribed for hyperactivity, and snort it like cocaine, authorities said. It gives a high similar to speed.

Broken Arrow police say they had rarely seen problems with Ritalin or DXM until now, although the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has warned local officers of the trend.

"It's the next big wave we'll have to face," said an undercover drug officer who participated in the Broken Arrow high school investigations.

Two Broken Arrow students are suspected of distributing DXM and likely will be arrested, officials said. At one student's home, police found "capsule presses" used to put the drug into pill form.

Authorities believe the students were duped into believing they were buying the designer drug Ecstasy. DXM is cheaper and can be just as toxic.

Rick Murray, a counselor for the Palmer Drug Abuse Program, said teens have admitted taking as many as 20 pills at one time.

"Taking this much medication internally is very dangerous," he said. "The bad part is what it would do to the lungs, liver and kidneys."

The attraction to the drug is a high that teens say is five times as powerful as laughing gas, Murray said. It gives them tunnel vision and the feeling of being conscious but not responsive.

Ritalin makes users feel "energetic, on top of the world, bullet-proof," Murray said. "They feel like they are in total control of themselves."

The Palmer Drug Abuse Program handles as many as 500 appointments per month with teen-agers who come from public school systems or juvenile authorities, Murray said. The program recently assigned one drug counselor to the Broken Arrow area.

"Broken Arrow has a hell of a problem," Murray said. "Parents really don't know what's going on. Half have this drug in the medicine cabinet.

"Schools are clueless; parents are clueless."

Link: http://amarillo.com/stories/020401/usn_abuse.shtml

[Eloivore]

Distilling?? That'd take a hell of a vacuum, I think.

[levomethorphan]

Authorities believe the students were duped into believing they were buying the designer drug Ecstasy. DXM is cheaper and can be just as toxic.

Methinks the authorities made the ecstasy connection up so that they can get around the fact that DXM is a legal substance and charge the dealers with distribution of a counterfeit substance.

Rick Murray, a counselor for the Palmer Drug Abuse Program, said teens have admitted taking as many as 20 pills at one time.

Of course, the fact that 20 pills of anything is taken automatically makes it toxic. These people would probably see a huge difference between twenty 15 mg pills and one 300 mg pill.

Last week, a 15-year-old student was arrested for selling Ritalin pills from his prescription. Teens crush the Ritalin, which is prescribed for hyperactivity, and snort it like cocaine, authorities said. It gives a high similar to speed.

Of course, prescribing strong CNS stimulants to children is not harmful at all; it's only like cocaine or speed when wayward youth crush them up and ABUSE them (gasp!)

Ritalin makes users feel "energetic, on top of the world, bullet-proof," Murray said. "They feel like they are in total control of themselves."

I guess those are the "adverse side-effects", right?

[libel]

lmao

[vapor]

Of course, prescribing strong CNS stimulants to children is not harmful at all; it's only like cocaine or speed when wayward youth crush them up and ABUSE them (gasp!)

Hey you have to remember what the government propaganda (news) is telling you. Methamphetamine is a dirty and dangerous drug, you can get "hooked" or DIE the first time you take it!!!

Of course, its totally fine for our children whom suffer from ADHD (in my opinion the condition is grossly misdiagnosed) to take strong CNS stimulant from the same family as methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine for people of all ages is bad, but Dextroamphetamine is fine for kids as young as 12 years old.

Dont you love our governments logic? They are lucky the majority of americans are fucking clueless, because those that are not can easily see this for what it is, 100% bullshit.

[Eloivore]

Originally posted by levomethorphan@Jan 18 2005, 02:06 PM
Of course, prescribing strong CNS stimulants to children is not harmful at all; it's only like cocaine or speed when wayward youth crush them up and ABUSE them (gasp!)

I agree with your overall sentiment, but I would point out that the faster the blood hits your drugstream, (err, strike that, reverse it), the more reinforcing (habit-forming) it is (injected = smoked > sniffed > anal > ingested > ingested time-release, it's debatable whether injection or smoking hits faster but it's easier to titrate to endpoint with smoking obviously). If you crush a time-release pill you're getting a bigger dose, and you're getting it all at once.

[n__u]

I saw an interesting commercial the other day. It was for "Adult ADD".

Adult ADD

*Do you have difficulty concentrating or focusing your attention on one thing?
*Do you often start multiple projects at the same time, but rarely finish them?
*Do you have trouble with organization?
* Do you procrastinate on projects that take a lot of attention to detail?
*Do you have problems remembering appointments or obligations?
*Do you have trouble staying seated during meetings or other activities?
*Are you restless or fidgety?
*Do you often lose or misplace things?


Nearly all of those I've witnessed myself do. I think everyone does a little of many of them.

[Eloivore]

Of course, nearly everyone has those. They're symptoms of DSM IV diagnosis 666.69, "Acute Normality". The ads are nothing more than a way for the drug companies to sell more speed at insanely inflated prices. In most cases -- i.e., people who don't actually have ADHD -- it's all lifestyle related shit. If everyone would cut down on stress, get some sleep and exercise, and eat real food for a change, adult ADHD scripts might be limited to people with an actual disease.

[Sgt.Pilcher]

Bwhite, why aren't you president yet...

[Walkaway]

> Methamphetamine for people of all ages is bad

What about Desoxyn?