Deadly 1970's Teen Fad Returns

Taking cold medicine to get high, a popular fad in the 70's, has reemerged.

The ingredient, dextromethorphan (DXM), found in Robitussin, Nyquil, Benadryl, Coricidin, and other cold medications can cause hallucinations. "It's an ingredient related to morphine," said Dr. Tom Atkinson.

Doctors say, taken in excess, DXM can cause psychosis, brain damage, seizures, and even death.

Kids refer to the medication as "triple c's", "syrup", and "tussin".

"When you take it you feel warm, like a wave is going over your body. It plays with your mind and makes you kind of numb," said 17-year-old Christopher Jackson. "I had a girlfriend who did it, and she had to go to rehab for it. It was messing her up pretty bad, so I was like, I'm not going to do it anymore."

Jackson says he would "down bottles of tussin" or take eight to ten cold pills to "get a good trip going."

After the problems with his ex-girlfriend, Jackson stopped taking the medication.

Some pharmacies keep Coricidin behind the counter to prevent it from getting stolen, but kids of any age can purchase it.

Dr. Atkinson estimates between 10% and 20% of local high school students get high off cold medicine.

If a child has a mild high, doctors say it will be difficult to detect. Some things parents should watch out for are loss of coordination, slurred speech, and dizziness.

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[Ahuramazda]

wow 10% - 20% he estimates are users (as in not tried but use??? thats a pretty significant number, compared to the average number of 30% of highschool kids have tried pot, i think,

to me this estimate seems like an uneducated exaggerated guess
and since when is the diet docter a specialist on DXM abuse

[levomethorphan]

Only about 5% of the kids at my school even know you can get high off cough syrup. That 10 to 20% figure is total bullshit.

Only 2 kids actually get high off DXM in my school and thats cause I told my friend Joe about it and im the only other one who does it. A few other kids know about it but thats only cause I was preaching to them about how good the drug is but no one wants to believe me so fuck them!

[Ahuramazda]

In my entire school Im the only real dexhead, i showed some kid and he tried it once and not again, and then another kid has used it sparsley

Everytime I see an article mention brain damage I e-mail them to ask about what findings led them to say this. So far the most straightforward reply(if I get one) is that "we quoted so and so".

Re: brain damage, no worries... just watching the news during an election year causes that.

[PeoplesMind]

Dr. Atkinson estimates between 10% and 20% of local high school students get high off cold medicine.

Say an average class is 30 people. That means 3-6 people in every classroom of that high school uses cough syrup. That doesn't account for other 'more popular' drugs such as marijauna. Using those estimates for a less popular drug, I beleive that that school should be turned into a rehabilitation clinic.

peace,
Nitin

[_Swey_]

I dont beleive the 10-29% bullshit. Me and acouple of other friends decided to pull away from mainstream drugs and go for the natural legal shit. DXM, DPT, salvia and others. It has been much better but no one else at our school knows about any of it and the ones who do say they will never try it because of false information.

[pr0zac]

Hey my dad was my age in the 70s... I think I'm gonna hafta ask him some questions next time I talk to him. :P

-zac