INTERNET DRUG SCARE NOT AN ISOLATED CASE

A woman's stepson and his friends bought DXM via computer.

They also were hospitalized.

Mary Ellen Mellor kept it quiet. As long as no one knew, she and the rest of
the family hoped the problem would go away. But it didn't. Now, Mellor's
16-year-old stepson is undergoing drug rehabilitation, and the incident that
first signaled his later drug problems has come rushing back. Mellor's
stepson overdosed on dextromethorphan, or DXM, in October 1997, when he was
15. "He bought it from the computer.

He plugged in his address and paid for it with a money order that he and his
friends got from Wawa," Mellor said. "It is scary how easy it is." The drug
arrived a few days later in a brown wrapper. The story is not a new one.
Last week, four girls from Conestoga High School in Berwyn were sickened by
the same legal drug that Mellor's stepson and three friends from Great
Valley High School in nearby Malvern mixed with milk to get high one night
in his Chester County home. Like the teens involved in last week's incident,
they had to be rushed to Paoli Memorial Hospital, where they were treated
for symptoms including shortness of breath and rapid heartbeat. In both
cases, large quantities of DXM -- typically sold to pharmaceutical companies
for use in over-the-counter cough syrups -- had been purchased from
underground merchandisers who market this drug and others on the Internet.
Mellor said her stepson, whose name is being withheld by The Inquirer, and
his friends pooled $160 to purchase 50 grams of DXM from a North Carolina
company that advertised on the Internet. The four girls -- a 16-year-old
from Berwyn and three 15-year-olds from Wayne, Devon and Radnor -- got the
white powdery substance from two male students, ages 15 and 16, from Berwyn,
who purchased 50 grams for $100 from an Ohio company that also advertises on
the Internet, authorities said. The 1997 incident was not reported to local
police, but Tredyffrin police are investigating the incident last week. Last
week, federal authorities began investigating the availability of DXM and
the ease with which anyone can purchase it through the Internet. Yesterday,
Larry McElynn, a special agent with the Philadelphia office of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration, said the DEA would be expanding its
investigation to probe the source of the drug. "We have people who are not
in a legitimate industry selling this stuff," McElynn said. "There are
pirates on the Net with access to large amounts of[DXM], and we need to find
out where they are getting it from." More than a half-dozen merchandisers
market DXM over the Internet. Company names, addresses, and phone numbers
are listed on one Web site, along with the quantities of DXM available and
the prices. For $125, a customer can purchase 50 grams of DXM from a seller
based in Greensboro, N.C. For $1,000, this same company says it will sell a
kilogram of the drug within 24 hours.

Mellor was not sure if this was the same North Carolina company her son
purchased his DXM from. Such availability of large amounts worries federal
drug agents. "We don't think[the merchandisers]are violating the laws we
enforce," McElynn said. "But there could be some FDA[Food and Drug
Administration]regulations they may be violating, and there could be the
issue of mail fraud, since they are using the U.S. Postal Service to sell
this stuff.

That is why we are looking into this." Mellor, a nurse at Mercy Community
Hospital in Haverford, said she was shocked by the ease with which her
stepson was able to purchase DXM. "Who would have thought that for $160 they
could get this stuff sent to them in the mail?" Mellor said. The substance,
Mellor later learned, arrived in an unlabeled canister filled with white pow
der that resembled baking powder. "It looked like one of those small plastic
cups that hospitals use for urine samples," Mellor said. "Parents need to
know that it is very easy for their children to get hold of this stuff and
other drugs.

It's sad that we often don't know what they are doing until they overdose
and it is too late." When taken in large quantities, DXM can cause stomach
pain, cramping, dizziness and vomiting, and may result in coma and brain
damage.

Those touting its use as a recreational drug claim it gives the feeling of
being drunk and high at the same time. Substance abuse counselors and police
officers said the recent incidents are worrisome. "Kids can go out on the
Internet and get whatever they want," said Dr. Bonnie Heine, who works at
Today Inc., a drug treatment center for adolescents in Newtown, Bucks
County. "Nobody is minding the store." Although most of the younger adults
who come to the facility are addicted to heroin and other illegal
substances, Heine said the availability of legal drugs in large doses makes
the Internet a dangerous tool for those looking to experiment. Police
Officer Michael Cullin, who manages the Lower Merion Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (DARE) program, said substances once available only through
magazines are being sold in bulk on the Internet. "There's magic mushroom,
herbal ecstasy, you name it," Cullin said. "It used to be that you had to
worry about kids getting into the sex part on the Internet, now you have to
worry about the drugs."