Drug war needs a better target than cough syrup

. - www.HeraldNet.com
Published: Friday, October 7, 2005

Come on over, we'll get high as a blimp. I have enough dextromethorphan to give all of us out-of-body experiences.

I tried to buy a large enough supply of a cold remedy with DXM recently to treat sniffles, but I hit a roadblock at a drugstore. I was stymied at the cash register, while out in the car, my very sick granddaughter had a fever and her Grampie waited for headache relief.

Loaded with over-the-counter potential cures, I was caught like a crook.


Kristi O'Harran went over a drugstore's limit trying to buy cures for her granddaughter's cold.
Starting this week, shoppers buying Sudafed must show a photo ID to make a purchase. It's Washington's new stand against makers of methamphetamine, whose recipes include the cold medicines ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine.

DXM, also in cold remedies, isn't used to make meth, but kids have discovered large doses can make them high or cause them to hallucinate.

In Canada this summer, I stocked up on allergy meds to avoid the annoyance of showing my driver's license photo to pharmacists. I don't like to sniff all day at my desk, so the little red pills come in handy.

I thought I might get stopped at the border, but the guard instead confiscated hamburger and hotdogs we had bought at a Canadian Safeway store. We were heading back from camping and forgot we couldn't transport Canadian beef back into the U.S.. The border guard was so tickled about saving the world from mad cow disease that he didn't look inside my London Drugs bag.

When my family got sick, I loaded my arms with stuff, some with DXM, to fight colds and headaches. It turned out I was not in compliance with store policy. But neither was the clerk.

Those aiming to get a drug rush can do so by taking large quantities of DXM, and Walgreens spokeswoman Carol Hively said the chain has restricted its sale.

"Dextromethorphan is an effective cough suppressant when used properly and according to directions, but it can cause hallucinations, dizziness, brain damage, irregular heartbeats, seizures, loss of consciousness and death when abused," Hively said.

"Nationwide, thousands of overdoses have been reported by emergency room doctors due to abuse by young people."

She said DXM overdoses typically occur in clusters as word of the drug spreads in teen circles.

So there I was at the counter with one bottle of everything for my house and a duplicate bottle for my daughter's house. Caught with too much medicine, the clerk became my hero when she offered to ring up the bottles as two different transactions. I paid once, she rang up the next batch, and I paid again.

When I mentioned the transaction to Walgreens, they wanted to know which store I frequented. I didn't rat out the poor clerk, who was probably scraping along making minimum wage.

"The cash registers will now prompt for identification when an item containing DXM is scanned," Hively said. "If a customer appears to be under 18, you must ask for proper identification. The cash register prompts are the same as our current cigarette prompts."

Life gets more and more complicated. I can understand not selling glue to huffing junior high school kids, but for crying out loud, I was shopping for my grandchild.

Snohomish County prosecutor Janice Ellis didn't buy my granny routine.

"Grandmas can be addicts, too," Ellis said. "That is what it comes down to."

She said she understands why stores are being cautious about DXM sales. State Attorney General Rob McKenna said there has been a rise in the abuse of cough syrup. Watching sales is part of the drug war.

"This is all necessary because as the feds have cracked down on bulk suppliers, meth cooks have shifted to supplies in retail stores," McKenna said. "It's a sensible step to take."

But, honestly, we can cruise from store to store to buy tons of medications. Take aim in the war on drugs, but not with pea shooters


http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/10/07/...c_kristi001.cfm

[Arm]

Originally posted by drdªv€@Oct 8 2005, 07:21 PM
"Nationwide, thousands of overdoses have been reported by emergency room doctors due to abuse by young people."

"This is all necessary because as the feds have cracked down on bulk suppliers, meth cooks have shifted to supplies in retail stores," McKenna said. "It's a sensible step to take."

Thousands of overdoses? Try thousands of overzealous parents.

You mean the meth chemists who smuggle precursors across the border by the truckload? But hey any power hungry dumbass politician can justify their oppressive actions that infringe upon the rights of the people by using at least one of these lame excuses:
Think of the children!
We gotta do something about crime.
DRUGS!!!!!!

[resorcinol]

Originally posted by Arm@Oct 8 2005, 10:12 PM
Thousands of overdoses? Try thousands of overzealous parents.

Yup. Most of these "overdoses" are really just 3rd or 4th plats.

And the real overdoses are mostly overdoses on antihistamine crap in CCC or paracetamol in xxQuil by people that don't really care what the fuck they shove down their throat.

And people like Dr. Phil(ofshit) make the public think dextromethorphan is way more dangerous than it actually is.

[phantom_thief]

Originally posted by resorcinol+Oct 8 2005, 10:33 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (resorcinol @ Oct 8 2005, 10:33 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--Arm@Oct 8 2005, 10:12 PM
Thousands of overdoses? Try thousands of overzealous parents.

Yup. Most of these "overdoses" are really just 3rd or 4th plats.

[/b][/quote]
Is not an overdose anything that is over the recommended dose?

I'm not siding with the propaganda, but in this instance it not entirely wrong. Everytime I trip on dxm, I am intentionally overdosing.

[c0smoline]

I once sweet-talked my way past the Walgreens under-18 restriction on DXM when I bought some zicam nite. It was awesome

[Arm]

Originally posted by c0smoline@Oct 9 2005, 01:13 PM
I once sweet-talked my way past the Walgreens under-18 restriction on DXM when I bought some zicam nite. It was awesome

What did you say?

[yrm0m]

"Grandmas can be addicts, too," Ellis said. "That is what it comes down to."

That is hilarious.

Originally posted by phantom_thief@Oct 9 2005, 05:04 AM
Is not an overdose anything that is over the recommended dose?

I'm not siding with the propaganda, but in this instance it not entirely wrong. Everytime I trip on dxm, I am intentionally overdosing.

I think an OD would be better defined as taking too much of a substance sothat it requires medical treatment.

[Vertigo]

I love the war on drugs, cause it has nothing to do with the safety of the citizens. The war of drugs was created and glamorized by the Nixon administration, to curtail dissidents and maintain the status quo.

[Kaiserin]

I would like to note that they'll treat you for a Dxm "overdose" even if you claim it isn't one. I went into a hospital for an unrelated poisoning and was asked what I had consumed within the last 24 hours. I said what was what (putting faith in the medical community) and was suddenly thrown into another world when I mentioned the 708mg of dxm I had take 12+ hours prior to the incident. "SO THIS IS AN OVERDOSE?" "No, it's a dose I do it all the time, that's not the issue, somebody put something i suspect is toxic in a water bottle next to the sink, what about that?" "Another one of these kids has od'd on coughsyrup get the narcon". Next thing I know I'm in a complete daze as my body is pumped all full of god knows what to treat this alleged "drug overdose" and I wasn't even treated to my knowledge for whatever it was mislabled. They gave me some bullshit lecture about how they hoped i had learned my lesson. They were even going to refer me to inpatient drug rehab on the spot. I told them they were a bunch of crooks and staggered out of the hospital while i was left unattended much cloudier walking out the door than i was when i walked in.

The skinny? Hospitals don't know how to treat patients or even legitimate dxm overdoses.