Riverside Police Warn Parents About Cold Medication Kids Use To Get High
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Riverside Police are warning parents about something they said kids already know about: DXM, or cold medication that is being used to get high.
What prompted the warning by police was an incident that occurred two weeks ago, where a 14-year old overdosed on cold medication at Riverside Brookfield High School. WBBM's Steve Miller reports.
DMX, or Dextromethorphan, also known as Triple C (CCC) is available over the counter. And often, police said, you do not have to be 18 to buy it.
Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel says the 14-year-old was treated in the ER and survived. But when he started spreading the word about DXM, parents objected.
"The parents are the ones that need to be educated and need to know," Weitzel said. "I assured them that their children know about it. And for us to try to keep it a secret is doing a disservice to the whole community."
Weitzel said parents objected, afraid that publicity would would give their children ideas.
But he said every teenager police talked to already knew about DXM. It was the parents who didn't know about it, and the dangers behind the drug.
