Skip Navigation LinksWyoming Department of Health Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Division MHSA Prevention Town Hall Meeting
 

Join Wyoming in taking action against cough medicine abuse.

  

One in 10 teens say they have purposefully abused cough medicine to get high. That’s a total of 2.4 million teens who are taking large amounts of over-the-counter cough medicines that contain dextomethorphan (DXM) to get high. When abused in such large amounts, sometimes 25-50 times the recommended doses, these medicines can be highly dangerous and can have serious side effects, such as loss of consciousness, fever, headaches, delusions, and panic attacks.

 

Due to this alarming trend, The Wyoming Department of Health, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Division along with the Laramie County Community Partnership-Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Action Team, The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, and The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America held a Town Hall Meeting in Cheyenne to talk about the dangers of cough medicine abuse.

 

Some take-home lessons from this meeting include:

 

1.      Most often, teens are getting information about cough medicine abuse via the internet. A number of disreputable web sites (i.e. MySpace, YouTube) promote the abuse of cough medicine containing DXM. Information on these sites can include recommendations on how much to take, suggesting other drugs to combine with DXM, and even selling a raw, unfinished form of DXM for snorting.

 

2.      On the market today, there are over 100 medicines containing DXM, which is a cough suppressant found in many over-the-counter cough and cold remedies. These medicines can come in the form of liquids, capsules, lozenges, gelcaps, and tablets. Brand names include Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold and Cough Medicine, Dimetapp DM, PediaCare, Sudafed cough products, Robitussin cough products, Tylenol Cold products, Vicks 44 Cough Relief products, Vicks Dayquil and Nyquil LiquiCaps, just to name a few.

 

  1. To prevent DXM abuse, the best advice is to educate yourself, communicate with your teens, and safeguard your medications. Some other tips to keep teens from abusing cough syrup medicine include:

 

    1. Keep all medicines in a locked container or box
    2. Dispose of expired medications
    3. Don’t let teens have free access to medicines…Take possession of the medications and control when your child or teen takes them
    4. Know how much of each kind of medication you have so you can be aware if any medication is missing 
    5. Be aware of cough medicine bottles, full or empty, stashed away in a person’s room, bathroom, or personal belongings such as a backpack or locker
    6. Be aware of change in behavior, friends, school attendance, grades, eating or sleeping patterns

 

  1. The goal is to prevent a drug abuse problem in the first place, but if you fear that your teen or a teen that you know may have a problem, sit down with them and have an open discussion about alcohol and drug abuse. If you need help during this conversation, ask another family member, a school counselor, or a physician for help. If you fear that the teen is having an overdose, call the hospital or poison control. 

 

"The most effective tool we have to fight substance abuse- including cough medicine abuse- is education at the community level." - General Arthur Dean, Chairman and CEO of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America

 For more information, contact: Jessi Westling

               Prevention Block Grant Coordinator

               Wyoming Department of Health, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Division   

               (307) 777-3357

               jessi.westling@health.wyo.gov

For a Downloadable copy of the Town Hall Meeting Flyer,Click here

For more information on Cough Medicine Abuse please visit: www.stopmedicineabuse.org

To order a Free Educational Toolkit, please visit: www.adoseofprevention.org