Dextromethorphan Use Among Teens

D-X-M... three simple letters with not so simple side effects. DXM stands for dextromethorphan, a powerful and potentially dangerous drug that seems to be the new favorite among teens.

The trend received national attention recently in a USA Today article. It appears that Leander High School in Leander, TX is no different than the rest of the country.

"I was just in the hospital after overdosing on cough syrup that had DXM in it," said an anonymous LHS senior. "It was horrible. My parents were freaking out and the doctors had to give me all this medicine that made me clear my system."

So why aren't police fighting this particular drug war, well... because it's legal. DXM is a semi-synthetic, non-addictive morphine derivative and can be found in over 140 over-the-counter drugs.

Kids started liking this drug because all they have to do is walk into an Eckerd or Wal-Mart with $10 and walk out with their legal high for the night in a plastic bag with no questions asked.

The non-prescription drugs containing DXM that most teens use are Coricidin Cough and Cold tablets and liquid cough syrups such as Robitussin and NyQuil. Coricidin seems to be the favorite since it contains the most DXM per dosage than anything else on the market, and massive amounts of cough syrup tends to be quite nauseating.

Common slang terms for these medications include "Triple-C's", "Robo" and "Dex", and abusing DXM is often referred to as "frying", "dexing" or "Robo-tripping."

"I have friends that used to use DXM through cough medicines," said Kitty Zelinski, LHS sophomore. "I think it's really stupid because they'll go and completely buy out everything on the shelves or look really suspicious so that the stores start putting it all behind the counter, which just makes it harder for the people who really are sick to get it."

Abusers of DXM have described the effect as an out-of-body, hallucinogenic (audio and visual) type of experience, accompanied by lethargy, slurred-speech and confusion that usually last for two to six hours.

Overdoses can cause seizures, unconsciousness, heart attacks and other harmful affects, sometimes leading to death.