Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!
|
 motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
Last seen: 2 years, 3 months
|
 Pacific base officials caution about cough medicine abuse
#6254351 - 11/06/06 03:42 PM (5 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=41268
Pacific base officials caution about cough medicine abuse
Communities hope to prevent situation seen in States
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, November 5, 2006
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — With the approaching cold and flu season comes another health concern: children abusing over-the-counter cough suppressants.
Although military officials on Okinawa say they have not seen an uptick in teenagers chugging Robitussin or swallowing handfuls of Coricidin tablets to get high, it’s becoming a serious problem in the United States.
So serious that the Army and Air Force Exchange Service and Navy Exchange Service will sell dozens of such drugs only to people 18 or older.
The targeted ingredient is dextromethorphan, or DXM, which is a key ingredient in more than 140 cough and cold medicines. Taken in large doses, DXM produces an effect similar to an LSD trip.
But many of the trips turn bad. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns that overdosing on DXM-based cough suppressants can cause brain damage, seizures, loss of consciousness and irregular heartbeats.
There also have been reports of teenagers dying from overdosing, especially when taking the more potent tablet forms of Coricidin, called “skittles” or “red devils” because of the bright red pills’ resemblance to the popular candy.
According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, DXM abusers claim “robotripping” or “skittling” experiences range from mild distortions of color and sound to visual hallucinations and “out-of- body” sensations.
But the effects also can include extreme confusion, dizziness, double or blurred vision, slurred speech, hot flashes, loss of physical coordination, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, rapid heartbeat, drowsiness, numbness of fingers and toes, and disorientation, according to the FDA.
Many products containing DXM can be easily identified from words such as “DM” or “tuss” in the names. AAFES and NEX have about 60 DXM items on their restricted lists.
The Defense Commissary Agency has no age restriction on the cough suppressants it sells, according to a DeCA spokesman.
Two incidents of people abusing tablets of AAFES Exchange Select Cough & Cold Relief — the AAFES generic brand of Coricidin — occurred in the Kishaba Housing Area of Camp Foster over the summer, according to base residents. The incidents were not reported to military authorities and the young men involved, both older than 18, have moved back to the U.S.
In December 2003, Yokota High School officials distributed a letter to parents warning them of the dangers of DXM abuse, citing the prevalence of teens “robo- tripping” at the Yokota Teen Center. Around the same time, Seoul American High School officials reported several students had been hospitalized for overdosing.
Wally Humenick, counselor for Yokota’s Adolescent Substance Abuse Counseling Services program, said Friday that the base engages in aggressive general-prevention efforts aimed at discouraging abuse of over-the-counter medications.
In 2005, he wrote an e-mail warning AAFES about Coricidin risks. All Yokota schools participated in last month’s national Red Ribbon Week, an observance designed to remind students about the dangers of drug abuse and benefits of healthy lifestyles.
“It was a week about awareness of use of illegal drugs and illegal use of legal drugs,” Humenick said.
Off-base Japanese pharmacies carry over-the-counter medications that would require prescriptions in the United States, he added.
That includes some that contain a derivative of codeine.
Humenick, a licensed clinical social worker and licensed independent substance abuse counselor, says teenagers have gone through phases over the years in their experimentation with different substances — from “huffing,” or inhalant abuse, to laughing gas and now cough medicine.
“There seems to be a cyclical pattern when these kids are looking for things to make them feel different — but there are consequences,” he said. “It’s very dangerous, especially with the amounts these kids are taking. There’s a belief that if one is good, two is better.”
Military officials say such abuse is rare on Okinawa.
“According to the U.S. Naval Hospital, the Marine Corps Bases Japan Staff Judge Advocate’s Office, the Department of Defense Dependents Schools and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, incidents involving the misuse of over-the-counter drugs are not at all common or a trend on Okinawa,” said Marine Gunnery Sgt. Chuck Albrecht, a Marine Corps spokesman, in a written response to a query from Stars and Stripes.
While the sale and possession of over-the-counter substances is lawful aboard U.S. installations, their use “with the intent to induce intoxication, excitement, or stupefaction of the central nervous system” is prohibited and prosecuted under military law through either nonjudicial punishment or court-martial, he said.
He added he was unaware of any such cases involving Marines on Okinawa.
Likewise, there have been no reports of legal action taken for DMX abuse against any airmen on Okinawa, said Johnathan Monroe, a spokesman for the 18th Wing.
Stars and Stripes reporter Vince Little contributed to this report.
--------------------
http://heffter.org
|
Jorsher
Psychonaut
Registered: 08/28/06
Posts: 691
Loc: Earth
Last seen: 1 year, 5 months
|
Re: Pacific base officials caution about cough medicine abuse [Re: motaman]
#6255568 - 11/06/06 08:56 PM (5 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Ehhh..."similar to lsd"? They're not very similar...
It isn't to dangerous if the kiddies know what brand to get.
Anyway I hate the after effects.
--------------------
5 shroom me!
|
Grogan
Shroomieologist
Registered: 05/19/03
Posts: 1,057
Last seen: 6 days, 1 hour
|
Re: Pacific base officials caution about cough medicine abuse [Re: Jorsher]
#6256897 - 11/07/06 09:25 AM (5 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
If they know which to get its not as dangerous, It can be dangerous if to much is taken 
like anything
--------------------
"Maybe a cow occasionally ate a shroom, but it certainly wouldn't be such a potent shroom that the cow would be trippin balls. " LOL
|
Booming
n00b psybot
Registered: 10/05/06
Posts: 71
Last seen: 5 years, 2 months
|
Re: Pacific base officials caution about cough medicine abuse [Re: Grogan]
#6257295 - 11/07/06 11:35 AM (5 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
DXM is NOTHING like LSD.
if they knew which ones to get? i disagree, even though DXM is probably less harmful when taken alone compared to DXM and Guaffesin (spelling) and pseudophedrine, it is still dangeous. i know this because i have taken just DXM before and it was not the most pleasant feeling in the world. i have NEVER had my heart beat so damn fast in my life. it was not just beating fast but it was beating an off pace. DXM is still a dangerous drug alone.
not only that but DXM im almost certain would cause brain damage. from the few times i have taken it, i have had hangovers lasting the majority of the next day, far longer than any other hangover from any other drug i have done. if you do not believe me, go to www.erowid.org and read the article "This is your Brain on Dissociatives (Olney's Lesions)
|
Grogan
Shroomieologist
Registered: 05/19/03
Posts: 1,057
Last seen: 6 days, 1 hour
|
Re: Pacific base officials caution about cough medicine abuse [Re: Booming]
#6257509 - 11/07/06 12:35 PM (5 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Apparently you havent had a seriously hardcore alcohol bender..
I have had them last a day or 2.. haha
--------------------
"Maybe a cow occasionally ate a shroom, but it certainly wouldn't be such a potent shroom that the cow would be trippin balls. " LOL
|
Maverick
Photographer and Stoner
Registered: 12/18/05
Posts: 9,488
Loc: Northern Nevada 
Last seen: 41 minutes, 15 seconds
|
Re: Pacific base officials caution about cough medicine abuse [Re: Grogan]
#6260873 - 11/08/06 07:33 AM (5 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
I'd believe it causes brain damage, mine still feels damaged from it hahaha. It's for some people, but not for me.
| |
|
|
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: veggie
1,461 topic views. 3 members, 27 guests and 1 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Toggle Favorite | Print Topic ]
| | |
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit 
Reply 
