During the cold and flu season, many students find themselves congregating at pharmacies and drug stores to find some sort of remedy for their coughs, sneezes, and sore throats. Many stores offer a variety of medicines ranging from cough drops to neti pots to cure unwanted diseases, but as an underage teenager, buying cough medicine can be difficult.

Many stores in California are unable to sell liquid cough medicine to children under the age of eighteen. But why? “There is an ingredient in cough syrup [dextromethorphan] where if you have an excess of it, it gives you a short-term type of high. People have the tendency to mix this with other things and then it makes them feel a short-term high. It is the drug in it that is mixed with alcohol that makes the effects worse; that is why many teenagers abuse it,” shares Mrs. Ward (Staff). Many popular cough syrups can produce a popular hallucinogenic effect, almost like a homemade PCP. Over the past decade, the use of DXM (​​dextromethorphan) has skyrocketed in teenagers. It is reported that there was an 850% increase in its use (sierrabythesea.com). 

With the spread of the cold and the flu, is it a good thing that teenagers can not purchase this medicine? “Yes, because as I work with teenagers, a lot of them can lack the ability to make good decisions at times. Especially when peer pressure is involved when they go to parties and things like that, I think it is more to protect teenagers than to keep teenagers from something that they need,” says Mrs. Ward (Staff).

Although cough medicine is a relief when an unwanted cough emerges, because of the positive correlation between cough medicine and substance abuse among teenagers, the ban on sales to teenagers is for protection rather than punishment. The harmful effects of overusing cough medicine (particularly in kids below the age of 18) are not worth the risk of selling to teenagers. In addition, the fines and regulations that come with selling to a minor are also red flags.

Stay safe and aware of what is in the medicines you take. Often, reading and researching the ingredients can open a new perspective on the medicines going into your body. Also, consider the suggested serving size: although you feel extremely sick, doubling and tripling up on the amount does not make you less sick; if anything, it is more harmful.