BILL TARGETS COUGH SYRUP DRUG ABUSED BY TEENS

AUSTIN - Popular cough medicines that contain an ingredient used as a
recreational drug by teen-agers would become harder to purchase under a
bill filed this week by San Antonio Rep. Carlos Uresti.Abuse of
over-the-counter medications such as Robitussin DM and Coricidin Cough &
Cold, which contain Dextromethopan, known as DXM, sends about 1,000
teenagers a year to the Palmer Drug Abuse Center in San Antonio, Executive
Director Will Brown said.

In some cases, abuse of DXM, usually in connection with other drugs, can
lead to death.

"A lot of parents don't realize that their kids are getting high off these
cough medicines," Uresti said.

The measure by Uresti would make it a Class B misdemeanor to sell or
deliver products containing DXM to anyone under the age of 18. House Bill
340 also would outlaw DXM abuse by minors.

Uresti's proposal would require medications containing DXM be kept
out-of-reach. Customers would need assistance from store employees to get
them. His bill would punish businesses that don't comply.

San Antonio resident James Haag, 19, said he began by taking four
Coricidins a day when he was a freshman at Churchill High School.

By the time he quit using the drug 13 months ago, he was ingesting 100 to
150 pills a day, often with marijuana, LSD or alcohol, he said.

"Your tolerance becomes very, very high, very, very quickly," he said. "It
always ended up being a box, or two boxes, or three boxes."

Although DXM is not considered addictive, Haag said it was hard to kick.

"Everything's addictive in a way," Haag said. "I had withdrawals from
Coricidin somewhat similar to cocaine."

Haag, who said he acquired the pills by shoplifting them from store
shelves, said he avoided the medicine section of the grocery store for a
long time once he was clean.

Texas poison control centers reported 251 cases of DXM exposure in 2001,
and the average age of those involved was 16, according to the Gulf Coast
Addiction Technology Transfer Center at the University of Texas at Austin.