Restrictions Sought for Certain Cough Medicines

[aozen...@actmissouri.org]

Restrictions Sought for Certain Cough Medicines
New York Times – August 7, 2008
http://www.nascsa.org/News/Dmethorphan8.08.pdf

HE was 87, but Anthony Vieiro of Yonkers still had many good years
ahead of him, his grieving family and friends say, citing his vigor
and exercise regimen.

They certainly never expected to lose him in a car accident last year,
caused by a young driver high on over-the-counter medication
containing dextromethorphan. Commonly known as DXM, the drug is found
in cough suppressants like Robitussin, Sudafed and Tylenol products,
and can cause hallucinations, seizures and death when taken in large
quantities. Its illicit use is commonly called robotripping.

“I had never even heard of this ‘robotripping’ until it killed my
father,” said Mr. Vieiro’s daughter, Linda Vieiro-Minozzi, of Dobbs
Ferry, a mother and grandmother. “I’ve talked to other parents, and
they have no clue this is going on.”

Drug abuse prevention groups and lawmakers nationwide are trying to
curb the problem, especially among teenagers. The Partnership for a
Drug-Free America says 10 percent of teenagers have gotten high on
DXM.
Nine Westchester County teenagers were treated for DXM exposure last
year, and three have been treated so far this year, according to
reports received by the New York Regional Poison Control Center.

The center said it had received calls about 28 teenagers treated for
DXM exposure last year in Suffolk County, and 19 this year. Nassau
County, which had 17 cases last year, has had 13 this year, the center
said.
The Connecticut Poison Control Center reported 118 teenage DMX
exposure cases last year, and 62 so far this year.

According to the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System,
205 teenagers in the state were treated for exposure last year, and
the number is 107 so far this year. It was 70 in 2000.

“There’s no question that this is a problem that has gotten worse,”
said Dr. Steven M. Marcus, executive medical director of the New
Jersey organization.

In response, Westchester may become the third New York county,
following Nassau and Suffolk, to ban the sale of medications
containing DXM to anyone under 18. The County Board of Legislators
will hold a hearing Monday before voting on the bill, which Mr.
Vieiro’s children hope becomes known as Anthony’s Law.

“I’m not saying this would have saved my father’s life,” Linda Vieiro-
Minozzi’s brother, Gary Vieiro, said, noting that Mohd Shreiqein, who
is serving a one- to three-year prison term for criminally negligent
homicide, was 20 when he crashed into the elder Mr. Vieiro’s car. “But
right now, it’s like the legal system is saying it’s O.K.”

If Mr. Shreiqein, of Pleasantville, had gone into a pharmacy and seen
a sign about restrictions on DXM, he might have thought twice about
taking it, said Mr. Vieiro, who lives in Encino, Calif. “The awareness
of the danger is not there,” he said.

The Westchester bill, introduced by Legislator Judith A. Myers, is
modeled after the laws adopted in 2007 against selling medicine
containing DXM to customers under 19 in Suffolk County and
under 18 in Nassau. Similar bans are under committee review in the
United States Senate and the New York and New Jersey state
legislatures. A Connecticut bill proposed in 2005 did not proceed to a
vote.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which represents cough
medicine manufacturers, supports age restrictions, in conjunction with
educating parents about the dangers inside their own medicine
cabinets.
“You want to give parents some degree of comfort that cough medicines
are not easily accessible to minors in stores,” said Andrew C. Fish, a
senior vice president of the association. “Our message to parents is
to be aware that some teens are abusing cough medicines, and they
should be alerted to what medicines are in their houses and talk to
their teens about medicine abuse.”

Thomas Meier, director of Westchester’s Drug Prevention and Stop-DWI
program, said that although the county’s strategy to combat
nonprescription drug abuse includes educational materials, the
proposed law would further alert residents to the dangers of DXM
abuse.

If the law passes, Westchester supermarkets and drugstores that sell
DXM products to minors would get a warning for the first violation and
$150 fines for each subsequent offense.

Long Island’s penalties range from $250 to $1,000 per violation. Many
merchants have tried to avoid infractions by programming cash
registers to prompt cashiers to check identification when customers
try to buy medicine containing DXM.

The Nassau and Suffolk bans have enjoyed broad public support,
lawmakers said, especially from parents alarmed by cough medicine’s
popularity as an easily accessible party drug.

“The police were noticing that in hangout areas where you see beer
bottles, you would also see cough syrup containers in the woods,” said
Legislator David Denenberg, who co-sponsored the Nassau County law
last year. “As a parent of three minors, I couldn’t see any parent
wanting CVS or supermarkets selling Robitussin or other DXM-containing
syrups to my children.”

At the state level, the New York bill would permit customers under 18
to buy only one container of medication containing DXM. The New Jersey
bill, introduced by Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini, would ban all
sales to minors.
Ms. Angelini, who is also the director of Prevention First, a
nonprofit substance- abuse awareness group in Monmouth County, N.J.,
said she had heard of cough medicine abuse increasing among young
teenagers over the last five years. “We used to talk about marijuana
and alcohol as gateway drugs, but this is something that truly could
open the doors to other things,” she said.

Gary Vieiro said age restrictions were a good start, but he also
wanted lawmakers to criminalize driving under the influence of DXM.
Drivers like Mr. Shreiqein should face the same prison time as
intoxicated drivers, he said
.
“This was worse than drinking and driving,” his sister, Ms. Vieiro-
Minozzi, said. “Drinking just puts you in a stupor. Robitussin makes
you think you can fly.”