Millions of Youth Get High with OTC Meds

Dextromethorphan-- It's a long word parents need to get familiar with, as more teens in this country abuse it, the main ingredient in more than 140 cough and cold medications. To teens, "dexing," as it's called, can cause out-of-body experiences and its popularity is growing.

New data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows about 3.1 million people between the ages of 12 to 25 have used over-the-counter meds to get high.


Some of the effects of taking large doses of dextromethorphan, or DXM:

Blurred vision
Slurred speech
Disorientation

"I've known youngsters who've taken seven to 50 times the recommended dose of the medication," says Dr. Joseph Banken at UAMS.

"One person actually told me they could dislocate their shoulder and never feel any pain at all."

Dr. Banken at UAMS, along with Dr. Howell Foster have their own study that shows similar results.

"The trend had gone up basically every year since 2004 to this year, we're almost triple the number of intentional ingestions of these products since 2004," says Dr. Foster.

They say, teens think they're safer than prescription or illegal drugs.

"The idea, psychologically, is that if it's easy to get and I can buy it over the counter, then I must be safe," Dr. Banken says.

And Dr. Foster says it's not only dextromethorphan in the cough syrup that's cause for concern.

“In order to get high you're gonna take these other ingredients and that's part of the major problem with kids abusing these."

Doctors stress the best anti-drug-- parents talking to their kids.