The Scariest Drug Epidemic You’ve Never Heard Of

The Scariest Drug Epidemic You’ve Never Heard Of
By Jason Bane


One afternoon a year and a half ago, 18-year-old Christine Weiss locked herself in the bathroom of an Orlando drugstore with a package of Coricidin® HBP Cough & Cold. Ripping it open, she popped a handful of little red pills in her mouth and washed them down with tap water. Then, fighting the urge to vomit--a side effect of taking about 12 times the recommended dose--Christine waited for the hallucinogenic effect of the huge amount of dextromethorphan (DXM), a narcotic derivative that's in more than 80 over-the-counter cough medications, to kick in.
Like most kids who buy into this high, Christine didn't think about the dangers of abusing these medicines--addiction, heart palpitations, blackouts, seizures, even death. She just wanted the trippy, disconnected feeling. The allure of DXM is obvious: It's cheap, it's widely available and it's legal, which is why more and more teens are using it. In fact, lots of kids barely register the risks. "At my school, people were making jokes about it," says Nate, 19, a former user from Madison Heights, Mich.
It certainly didn't seem like a big deal to Christine. "My mind-set was, `This is just an over-the-counter [drug] .... It's no big deal. It's not like I'm doing cocaine or anything,'" she says of first trying Coricidin®. And all it took was a half hour to get high. "It was crazy--lights seemed brighter and sounds were louder. It was scary," she says. "Later, I started liking it." Soon she was hooked and using daily.
HOW COUGH MEDICINE CAUGHT ON
In the last couple of years, DXM abuse has exploded, fueling an underground culture in which "Triple C," "Skittles" and "Red Devils" are street terms used for the drugs. While groups that track teen drug use are only now starting formal studies, rehab facilities nationwide report that increasing numbers of teens are seeking treatment for DXM addiction. For example, Victoria Wine-barger, senior therapist at Pathway Family Center, which runs treatment programs in the Midwest, says 80 percent of their patients have abused DXM.
What's behind the phenomenon? "The Internet has played a significant role in broadly communicating what drugs [to use], how to use them and how to get them," says Andrea Barthwell, deputy director of demand reduction at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. And teens seem to agree. "I looked up on the Internet what over-the-counter drugs would get me high," says Nate.
NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT
Unfortunately, teens don't seem to keep digging to learn about the dangers, which include short-term problems, like insomnia, dizziness and delusions, to long-term problems, like liver or brain damage. "I would get nauseous and my head would spin," says Janet, 18, a recovering Coricidin® user. "I didn't understand what was going on at all." If that sounds bad, consider this: In October 2002, an Iowa State University student died of a DXM overdose, and in April 2003, a 14-year-old was killed when he ran across a Colorado highway while on Triple C.
Christine felt the damaging effects after a few months. "I started peeing blood," she says. "I felt sick.... My body felt weak." At school, she lost interest in classes, fought with other kids and eventually got suspended. Blaming her problems on her friends, her parents started homeschooling her, but soon she was fighting with them and left home. "I gave up everything because I was obsessed with using," says Christine. "All I cared about was getting high." Finally, two years after Christine started using, a worried friend clued her parents in to what she was doing and they sent her to S.A.F.E., an Orlando treatment center.
Now, after a year in drug rehab, Christine is glad she got help. While at S.A.F.E., Christine graduated from high school. When she finishes the 12-step program in 2004, she's got plans for college and a career as a drug counselor. "I thought I could just use Coricidin for fun, that it didn't matter. I never expected to get hooked," says Christine. The hardest part? "I'll never be able to get that time back. If I could erase it and make it go away, I would."


DOES SOMEONE YOU KNOW NEED HELP? FIND A TREATMENT PROGRAM:
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's National Drug and Alcohol Treatment Referral Routing Service: 800-662-HELP
Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator: findtreatment.samhsa.gov


This article was originally written in Teen People Magazine.