Minors restricted from buying certain over-the-counter drugs
February 7, 2012
Teens under the age of 18 may get a surprise if they try to buy some over-the-counter medicines to relieve a nagging cough. The State of California banned sales of medicines containing an addictive chemical for minors as of Jan. 1.
Dextromethorphan (DXM), a common chemical in these medications, can be addictive and is being abused by some teens as a way to become intoxicated. One in 10 teenagers admit to using cough medicine for this reason, according to a 2004 study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
“I think the ban is offensive because some people legitimately are sick and need to get medicine,” junior Christina Farran said. “I needed to get decongestant and they asked if I was over 18, because obviously I looked like a drug dealer with my runny nose,” she said with a laugh.
DXM is safe for use as medicine unless it is taken in excessive quantities, according to the offices of State Sen. Joe Simitian (Mid-Peninsula, Santa Cruz) who sponsored the bill. Drinking dangerous amounts of the formerly over-the-counter suppressant is equivalent to drinking alcohol in excess.
Abuse of DXM increased between 1999 and 2004 when the number of reported cases of DXM misuse jumped from 23 to 375, according to the California Poison Control System.
Despite the dangers of abuse, anger about the ban is strong among teens.
“I don’t think over-the-counter cough medicine is very dangerous and I think that’s what most teens think,” freshman Sarah Selzer said. “I think its unfair that I can’t buy cough medicine myself because I need to take responsibility for my body with the on hands action of buying medicine.”
Excessive amounts of DXM can lead to changes in muscle reflexes or even seizures or loss of motor skills.
There are alternative remedies for relieving coughs without medicines, according to the Mayo Clinic. Gargling saltwater, drinking lots of fluids, turning on the humidifiers or drinking chicken soup are proven to help suppress the common cold.
Michael Crosby • Sep 3, 2024 at 5:30 pm
The new reality. As some of us were told. during the Reagan era that Russians were utilizing strategies. to conduct mass economic sabotage on nations. Among the strategies was to find ways to effectively harm production by removing effective medicines from the reach of citizens. when dealing with something as simple as cult medication. We’re talking about companies that would have more people getting sick because there would be an increased spread pattern. This would mean that automatic adjustments and areas. being affected by drug bans. or drug access reduction measures. would adjust the Russians business profile. for investments. to compensate for an understanding that certain companies would have Erformance reductions. due to these new statistical factors When you look at all of these activities on a national map, you get an entirely different strategic understanding. When we look at COVID effect. California had more than 9000 people that effectively died in the first year due to the extra spread pattern factor. Simply because cold medicines had been removed from the shell. This, of course, continued the second year. but unfortunately, many states followed suit to these various staged processes. leaving us with an extra pandemic surprise factor. The statistics are 50,000 plus extra dead people due to the increased spread pattern. This effectively is comparable to Vietnam. So how many of these parties that think that they are doctors, but they are not doctors? made excuses to grandstand. over petty abuse items. missing the understanding of the health of the whole nation. This in effect being done again and again and again. is a strategy for mass murder. As the Russians admittedly, discussed in the tactic, but of course the reasons were behind making. money and manipulating stock. even though causing negative economic effects would occur The main understanding was the transitional effect towards oligarchy. Now we are left with a certainty in statistics. that’s so large that we have a series of individuals. who have committed mass genocide. just by removing cold medicine from the shelf. This is more than just a warning. If COVID had been worse. the death toll would have been much higher. as the additional curves of spread patterns increase. and more medicines are removed from the shelves Hmm. I.. We will see higher and higher death tolls. And when the next version of something like COVID comes around. that has a much larger. kill ratio. We will be saddled with the truth of the. truth of those statistics unless we immediately take action.