The Cough Syrup Crackdown Has Begun

Associated Press - May 16, 2007 9:25 PM ET

Four supermarket chains on the East Coast will stop selling certain cough medicines to customers under age 18 because teenagers have abused the products.

Retail pharmacies in Giant stores will join other grocery chains owned by Royal Ahold beginning Sunday in restricting the sales of over-the-counter medicines containing dextromethorphan, also called DXM. It's a common ingredient in cough syrups, pills and lozenges.

Among the products containing DXM are Robitussin Maximum Strength Cough Suppressant, Vicks 44 Cough Relief and Sucrets 8 Hour Cough Suppressant.

Landover-based Giant Food operates 186 supermarkets in the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The policy also applies to other chains along the East Coast owned by Royal Ahold, including Stop and Shop stores, Tops Markets and Giant Foods.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=652...528084&nav=4QcS

Customers Will Be Asked To Show ID

POSTED: 7:15 am EDT May 17, 2007
UPDATED: 8:26 am EDT May 17, 2007

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- The next time you head to Stop and Shop for some cold medicine, don't forget to bring your ID.

The grocery store chain will begin requiring young people to produce identification before purchasing medicines with certain drugs in them.

NewsCenter 5's Steve Lacy reported that policy is being put in place to prevent teenagers from abusing cough medicine to catch a buzz.

It applies to all over-the-counter medicines and cold remedies that contain the drug Dextromethorphan.

Also known as DXM, the ingredient can produce an hallucinatory high when taken in large doses, authorities say.

According to the FDA, the drug has been linked to the deaths of several teenagers in recent years. It can also cause a number of serious health complications including irregular heartbeat and brain damage.

Stop and Shop joins a growing number of national retailers like WalMart and CVS which have already restricted sales of cold medicines containing DXM.

Now, anytime medications, such as Robitussin, which contain DXM are rung up, store clerks will be prompted to ask customers for identification before completing the sale.

This new policy goes into effect at Stop 'n Shop on Sunday.

[TheGreatDeceiver]

and CVS which have already restricted sales of cold medicines containing DXM.

Sure haven't had any trouble getting them yet, and I go in on the same day each week and purchase the same two bottles of gels with the same cashier. The dude recommended I get a CVS Care Card because "You buy this medicine so much". :P

[Companion Cube]

you should sometimes i get 7 bucks off ONCE I GOT 15 FREEEEEE TRIP :-)

Supermarkets restrict cold medicine

Incident shows danger to teens who have been abusing these drugs.

By Joseph Cress, Sentinel Reporter, May 17, 2007

A close call last weekend for an area teen drives home why local pharmacies are requiring identification for the purchase of cough and cold-remedy products containing dextromethorphan.

The girl was treated Saturday for an overdose of the drug at the toxicology center at PinnacleHealth and discharged, spokeswoman Kim Payne said.

The overdose prompted a call to alert the Giant in Camp Hill, where the girl purchased the Coricidin product containing dextromethorphan, a synthetically produced ingredient found in many over-the-counter cough and cold remedies, said Tracy Pawelski, spokeswoman for Giant Food Stores.

Pawelski said store manager Morgan Shrieber immediately removed from the shelves two Coricidin products containing the drug, putting the stock behind the pharmacy counter.

“Coricidin has been a particular target of abuse,” Pawelski said.

Pawelski added the Camp Hill store replaced the Coricidin products with pull cards on the display shelves which customers must exchange for the actual product at the pharmacy counter. The Camp Hill store also began to “card” people buying cold medicines containing dextromethorphan.

Action taken across chain

The company was in the process of implementing a voluntary age restriction of 18 years or older before the reported overdose, Pawelski said. The police change takes effect Sunday in all Giant Food Stores, TOPS Markets and Martin’s Food Markets retail pharmacies.

Giant Foods is taking this action in response concern by the Food and Drug Administration over a disturbing trend involving young people abusing products containing dextromethorphan, Pawelski said.



According to research conducted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, one in 10 teenagers, or 2.4 million, intentionally abuse cough medicine to get high.

1-2 cases a week

Payne said PinnacleHealth treats about one to two cases of dextromethorphan overdose a week from all over central Pennsylvania — many of which are physician phone consultations.

These patients are typically treated and released in the emergency department, Payne said, adding few cases result in actual admission to the toxicology center.

Payne said signs and symptoms of abuse include seizures, confusion, disorientation, elevated temperature, increased blood pressure and muscle rigidity. Organ damage can take place and, in extreme cases, death.

Jodie Daubert is Giant Food Stores vice president for general merchandise, health and beauty care and fuel. She said over-the-counter products containing the ingredient are perfectly safe when ingested at recommended dosage levels.

“The decision to place an age restriction on purchasing these products is in the best interest of our customers who use these over-the-counter medicines safely and to address a growing abuse crisis among teens,” Daubert said.

Spokesmen for the Target, Wal-Mart and CVS store chains say they had age restriction policies in place for years on the purchase of products containing dextromethorphan. The policies include prompts built into cash registers requiring employees to ask for identification verifying the person buying the product is 18 years or older.

CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said the chain has had a voluntary policy since 2004. “Working with law enforcement and community groups, CVS identified the most abused products.”

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Marisa Bluestone said certain products containing dextromethorphan are kept behind the pharmacy counter. “We acknowledge we have to be responsible in offering the product while meeting the customer’s need for over-the-counter relief.”

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/05...ews/news956.txt

Published: Friday, May. 18, 2007

Beginning Sunday, all Stop & Shop Supermarket pharmacies, including stores in Hudson, Milford, Bedford and Peterborough, will restrict sales of cold and cough medicines containing dextromethorphan, a synthetically-produced ingredient in a number of over-the-counter products.

Only customers 18 and older will be allowed to purchase medications containing the drug, commonly used by teenagers to get high.

Federal law regulates sales of cold and cough medicines containing pseudoephedrine, another drug used to get high. By law, these medicines must be stocked behind the counter or in a locked cabinet and may be sold only to customers 18 and older who provide photo identification and sign a register.

There is no law regulating sales of dextromethorphan.“The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has identified products containing dextromethorphan as an easy target for abuse,” said Robert Keane, spokesman for the supermarket chain. “It set up an alarm for us. We want to make sure we can do our part to stem this.”

Keane said the 385 Stop & Shop supermarkets, including seven in New Hampshire, stock products containing the drug on shelves, not behind the counter.

“It’s a safe product if used properly,” Keane said of the medicines containing the drug. “We want to strike a balance between customer convenience and safety.”

The company spokesman said most customers using cold and cough medicines containing dextromethorphan purchase small amounts, typically one item.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America found one in 10 U.S. teenagers has intentionally abused cough or cold medicine to get high.

Keane said the new company policy reflects an industry trend. Indeed, a spokesman for CVS Pharmacy said that company has regulated sales of certain cold and cough products for about three years.

“It’s not a response to an event,” Keane said after he was asked what prompted the decision.

Barbara Beardsley, the supervisor of outpatient services at Keystone Hall in Nashua, applauded the Stop & Shop decision, saying cold and cough medicines are often “gateway” drugs for teenagers.

“The child who is prone to addiction is looking for the next high, and it keeps escalating,” Beardsley said.

Keystone Hall, part of the Greater Nashua Council on Alcoholism, is an outpatient treatment facility with a social detoxification program and a small halfway house. It provides services for clients who are 18 and older.

“I think it’s helpful for two reasons: It makes the public more aware of a huge, growing problem with young people, and Stop & Shop is making a proactive move that can only help,” Beardsley said. “We’re seeing more and more of this abuse, and more in general at younger and younger ages.”

Beardsley said the age restriction on dextromethorphan sales also underscores how easy it is for youngsters to get the drug.

“It’s medicine that people will have in their medicine cabinets and will not think that someone is taking sips of it to have a high,” she said. “It’s the liquor bottle they’ll notice.”

Registered nurse Paula Edwards, the school nurse at Pennichuck Middle School in Nashua and head nurse for the city school district, said she hasn’t seen or heard about teenagers and younger children in the community using cold and cough medicines containing dextromethorphan to get high, although she knows drug use is a problem.

“There’s a lot of inappropriate use of medications going on, and students are more prone to experiment,” the nurse said.

For at least 15 years, Edwards added, students in the city’s schools have not been allowed to carry their own cough medicines, a rule made to prevent or reduce abuse.

Judy Chong, a spokesperson for Shaw’s Supermarkets, said that company is discussing whether it will restrict sales of cough and cold medicines that contain dextromethorphan.

But Gary Wingate, the registered pharmacist who owns and operates Wingate’s Pharmacy on Main Street in Nashua, said he already monitors sales of dextromethorphan by keeping products containing it behind the counter.

“We’d certainly be on notice if something like that were to happen,” Wingate said, referring to concerns about abuse by teenagers.

He said his customers do not buy large quantities of cold and cough medicines.

Likewise, Roger Hebert, owner and operator of Rice’s Pharmacy on Main Street, said he keeps an eye on sales of cold and cough products, but hasn’t had a problem.

“We’re a small pharmacy, and the pharmacist can see what’s going on,” Hebert said.

Mike De Angelis, a spokesman for CVS Pharmacies based in Woonsocket, R.I., said the company has restricted certain products containing dextromethorphan, primarily Coricidin, since 2004. CVS operates 6,200 stores in 43 states, including 28 pharmacies in New Hampshire.

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.d...5180332/-1/news

[TheGreatDeceiver]

So much for my luck. Just got denied robogels and ID was demanded.

Motherfuckers.

[simon]

I hope i have contributed to it being non-otc.

[simon]

Yeah the CVS card will remind you how much money you put into OTC DXm. It did for me. Got a few coupons.

[Eloivore]

oops.