Rick Larsen: “our society tends to think of drugs only as illicit, illegal products sold on the street. Yet there are other dangers…”

“our society tends to think of drugs only as illicit, illegal products sold on the street. Yet there are other dangers closer to home, in our own medicine cabinets and a click of the mouse away. Common household products, such as cough syrup, contain ingredients that can provide a high if taken in large enough doses. The Partnership for a Drug Free America estimates that 1 in 10 teenagers or approximately 2.4 million young people have intentionally abused cough medicine in order to get high. The primary active ingredient in most cough medicines is dextromethorphan, also known as DXM. While medicines containing DXM are used safely by millions of Americans each year, some teenagers are taking excessive amounts of over-the-counter cough medications in order to get high. Moreover, many teens are abusing the unfinished, pure form of DXM which under current law can be obtained legally over the Internet. Pure DXM is extremely dangerous when taken in large amounts, and can cause hallucinations, seizures, brain damage, and even death. In 2005, two teenagers in my district died from overdosing on unfinished DXM, which they had obtained from a company over the Internet. In the same year three boys from Virginia and Florida died as a result of abusing unfinished DXM, which they had acquired through the same means. The loss of these children is a tragedy that will forever be felt by their families and their communities.”