More than 3 million teens and young adults have used over-the-counter,  non-prescription cough and cold medicines to get high at least once in their lifetimes, according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Newly analyzed data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health show the number is comparable to the 3.1 million who say they have used LSD, and is significantly greater than the 2.4 million teens and young adults who reported having tried methamphetamines.

Overdosing on many cough and cold medications may result in serious life-threatening adverse reactions, such as blurred vision, loss of physical coordination, intense abdominal pain, vomiting, uncontrolled violent muscle spasms, irregular heartbeat, delirium and death.

The NSDUH survey also found that the number of 12- to-25-year-olds who reported misuse of non-prescription cough and cold medicines in the past year, 1 million, exceeded the number claiming to have used methamphetamines, 740,000, and LSD, 485,000, in the past year. The number was somewhat lower than the 1.5 million young people in that age group who reported that they had used the drug Ecstasy in the past year.

The survey, conducted by SAMHSA, is the largest of its kind and involves interviewing nearly 67,000 people from around the nation, including nearly 45,000 teens and young adults ages 12 to 25.

Patterns of misuse of non-prescription drugs varied among demographic groups. Females ages 12 to 17 were more likely than their male counterparts to have misused these drugs within the past year, or 2.3 percent of females versus 1.5 percent of males. But among 18- to 25-year-olds, more males had misused these drugs in the past year than females, or 1.8 percent versus 1.3 percent. Among all 12- to 25-year-olds, the rate of past-year misuse among whites was three times higher than among blacks, or 2.1 percent of whites versus 0.6 percent of blacks, and significantly higher than the 1.4 percent of Hispanics in that age group who reported misusing these drugs in the past year.

“While increasing attention has been paid to the public health risk of prescription drug abuse, we also need to be aware of the growing dangers of misuse of over-the-counter cough and cold medications, especially among young people,” said SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, PhD.  “The scope and danger posed by these medications requires a broad scale public health campaign — a campaign involving everyone, including the medical community, industry, parents and young people.”

Although non-prescription cough and cold medications are generally safe when taken for medicinal purposes and as directed on their labeling, they can induce severe dissociative, “out-of-body” experiences when they are consumed in amounts far in excess of their recommended dosages. These reactions are similar to the effects of the well-known hallucinogens phencyclidine, or PCP, and ketamine, known on the street as “Special K.”

The full report on non-prescription cough and cold medication is available on the Web at http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/cough/cough.cfm.

Story courtesy Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Jan. 10, 2008. This story does not contain original reporting by The Nation’s Health staff.

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