Officials fear over-the-counter drug abuse

[rfgdxm]

http://www.cm-life.com/vnews/display.v?TAR...d=42007255f1d4d

Officials fear over-the-counter drug abuse
By Danielle Bogue
Central Michigan Life

February 02, 2005

illustration by Mark W. Smith
Life Assistant Photo Editor

Use of Dextromethorphan, also known as DXM, a drug found in over-the-counter medications, such as these pictured here, concern officials. Abusing the medications can cause death.

A recent incident involving at least one CMU student being hospitalized because of the misuse of Dextromethorphan has university officials caught off guard.

Dextromethorphan, also known as DXM, is a drug found in over-the-counter medications such as Coricidin and Robitussin products.

CMU Community Policing Officer Janice Klein said this is the first time she’s heard of a student misusing DXM.

“I’ve never heard of students at the college level abusing it,” Klein said. “Only high school kids.”

The incident, which occurred at the end of last semester, also was the first time Tony Voisin, director of Student Life, had heard of DXM abuse.

“This is an entirely brand new thing for me,” Voisin said. “In my four years in this position, this is the first time I’ve heard of something like this.”

DXM is legal and when used in proper dosage serves as a form of treatment for the symptoms relating to upper respiratory allergies and colds.

When taken in high dosages, DXM can cause hallucinations and a sense of disassociation.

Dr. Penalope Cook, associate director of University Health Services, said she has never had any personal experience with a patient abusing DXM.

“I only know about it from what I’ve read,” Cook said. “Odds are it’s going to be nights and weekends when students are abusing it.”

Some of the risks associated with abusing DXM include a rise in blood pressure, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmia, brain damage and in some cases death.

These risks increase if the user mixes DXM with other substances such as alcohol or illegal drugs.

“Substance abuse is substance abuse,” Cook said. “DXM is just more readily available. If you’re not 21 it’s a lot easier to get than alcohol.”

Klein said she doesn’t think enough time is dedicated to making students aware of over-the-counter and prescription drug abuse.

“It’s not like I think there’s an epidemic, but we spend so much time on alcohol and illegal drug use, but we don’t spend enough
time on things like this,” Klein said. “If there’s something we can do to save someone from having problems, we should do it.”

Voisin said some of the resources used to address health advocacy and drug treatment have been moved off campus.

“As far as programs on campus, there’s not a lot going on,” Voisin said. “A lot of those positions have been eliminated due to budget cuts.”

Some pharmacies, such as Meijer’s, are starting to put Coricidin products behind their counters and require a signature to purchase.

Klein said she hopes that over-the-counter and prescription drug abuse awareness will start to be incorporated into all of the university’s training programs.

“I hope this will help make students more aware,” Klein said. “I don’t want to see anyone lose their life due to the misuse of over-the-counter, prescription or illegal drugs.”

Voisin said he was shocked at the amount of Web sites dedicated to DXM he found on the Internet.

“There are over 265,000 Web sites that came up for DXM, many of them recreational sites,” Voisin said.

[i dex alone]

That put me in a silly mood.

[thomasKMFDM]

It appears the author of this article considers all use to be abuse and that all harm reduction sites promote recreational use.

[rfgdxm]

This is one of the most poorly written articles I have seen in a while. Amongst the problems:

#1) “I’ve never heard of students at the college level abusing it”. They asked some people out of touch with reality. MANY college students use DXM. So nobody who posts at the DV is in college, or used DXM while they were in college? The demographics of DXM users are heavily skewed toward teenagers *and young adults". Plenty of young adults are in college. The main reasons college kids using DXM doesn't make the news so much is a) it makes for more sensational news story to point out children are abusing it than adults are using it, and college students are far more able to stay off the radar. As in the parents aren't around to catch them using DXM. Unlikely a college student using DXM will get noticed unless they end up in the ER or the morgue.

#2) A doctor is quoted as saying DXM causes brain damage. This has never been documented in a peer reviewed journal article. There are some people like me out here that says I think DXM *may* cause brain damage. However, any doctor should take the word of a layperson like me as gospel.

#3) That 265,000 Web sites about DXM is total bullshit. You could fit in an elevator all of the webmasters of sites dedicated to DXM worth mentioning on the non-prohibitionist side. That would be me, the guy who owns the DV, Greendrag at the Third Plateau, and perhaps some of you reading would nominate a few other DXM specific websites. Erowid and the Lycaeum likely have a lot of hits to their DXM sections, so lets add those webmasters in. There are probably a similar number of webmasters of prohibitionist sites. Pretty much all the hits for "DXM" on Google are posts at general drug sites (a single post is hardly a "site"), and the vast majority of the rest are where "DXM" appears on a site in a non-drug context. Such as the Martin DXM guitar, dxm.org, etc.

[n__u]

Originally posted by rfgdxm@Feb 3 2005, 07:49 PM
http://www.cm-life.com/vnews/display.v?TAR...d=42007255f1d4d

Klein said she doesn’t think enough time is dedicated to making students aware of over-the-counter and prescription drug abuse.

“It’s not like I think there’s an epidemic, but we spend so much time on alcohol and illegal drug use, but we don’t spend enough
time on things like this,” Klein said. “If there’s something we can do to save someone from having problems, we should do it.”

Oh yes, let's let everyone in the fucking world know they can get high off of a legal cough suppressant. That'll help.