Teens Take New Dangerous Drug Combination
Member Center:
A drug that's being abused by metro teens could be in your own medicine cabinet, and drug therapists are urging parents to be aware.
The warning comes after emergency crews responded to drug overdose calls twice in as many days at the same house. The first call came to a metro house Friday afternoon. Rescue crews took four people between the ages of seventeen and twenty to the hospital. Police say they all took about forty pills each of Coricidin, which is a cough medicine, and marijuana. Rescue crews were called there again Saturday night, when one of the boys overdosed again.
Medical professionals say getting high on that combination of drugs is becoming a big problem, and police say it's becoming more common.
The drug is sold over the counter at any pharmacy. It's nicknamed "Triple C", "Robo" or "Red Devils". The pills send users on a trip similar to a LSD high, one pharmacists say can be deadly. The cough and cold drug is safe when used properly. One tablet every six hours is the prescribed dosage. But local therapists say teens are taking anywhere from fifteen to forty tablets.
In some states, like Ohio, there's such a problem with abuse of this drug that pharmacists are putting it behind the pharmacy counter. Here in the metro, you can buy it over the counter, but pharmacists say they make sure people aren't buying several boxes of it.
There have been no deaths linked to the drug in Iowa, but teens in other states have died from overdosing on Coricidin.
