OTC ABUSE; DRUGS ARE AS CLOSE AS HOME MEDICINE CABINET

When thinking about illegal drugs and the drug culture in the United
States, most people generally are aware of the most commonly abused drugs:
heroin, cocaine, crack, marijuana, uppers and downers and two that quickly
are gaining notoriety--methamphetamine and Ecstasy.

Yet by focusing only on these big players, some adults might not realize
the potential for drug abuse is far closer to home than they imagine--in
the household medicine cabinet or down the street at the local drug store.

Young people looking to get high, and who may not have access to the
regular spectrum of illicit drugs, are turning increasingly to legal
over-the-counter substances such as cold preparations, cough syrups and
caffeine-laden pills.

Like most other medications, these OTC drugs are relatively safe when taken
as prescribed or recommended. But in high doses, these everyday drugs can
produce euphoria and psychedelic effects found in such drugs as LSD, in
addition to creating rapid heartbeats, nausea, distorted vision, confusion
and sometimes psychotic episodes.

Which, in a way, is part of what young people are looking for when they opt
to ingest mood-or mind-altering substances. But few young people understand
the long- and short-term health implications of abusing drugs, even those
considered safe enough to be sold without significant controls or
restrictions. They're toying with their lives trying to get a buzz, and
they need to be better informed about the perils of drug abuse.

Many of our young people are curious by nature and willing to subject
themselves to various experiments to change how they feel or perceive the
world around them. For that and other reasons, drugs probably will always
be a temptation for them, particularly when those drugs are legal and as
close as a bathroom cabinet.

So while adults may be on the lookout for evidence that young people are
fooling around with the more serious drugs on the illicit market, they'd be
well advised to keep a close eye on their own medicine supplies, too. They
may have a legitimate use and seem relatively harmless, but in the right
amounts they can be as potentially deadly and harmful as the worst the drug
world has to offer.