(no subject)
Dec. 18th, 2005 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ABC News is just about to air a story about cough syrup abuse. You could tune in right now.
Edit: It's amazing, still, what reporters put in or leave out. The lead-in was the story of a mother who lost her son due to cough syrup abuse. Well, except in the rarest of cases DXM alone in one setting won't kill you. What syrup did he do? The kind with acetominophen in it (which will destroy your liver)? As someone who has been investigating DXM closely for the last five years, I find this story loose. What was the actual cause of death, according to the coroner?
Coricidin has been implicated in several DXM-related deaths in the US, because of the maleate in it. But the reporter said the youth died from syrup, not from Coricidin. (Although the slang for Coricidin was included in the story, which helped muddy the issue.)
The reporter did give parents some signs to look for: slurred speech and empty cough syrup bottles "when it's not the cold & cough season."
While you're at it, why not give some harm reduction information, like, "Tell your kids to stay away from syrup that has acetominophen in it"?!
Parents tell their kids not to have sex. But some also tell them, "If you're going to have sex, at least use a condom." Harm reduction! Is it so hard?
Edit: It's amazing, still, what reporters put in or leave out. The lead-in was the story of a mother who lost her son due to cough syrup abuse. Well, except in the rarest of cases DXM alone in one setting won't kill you. What syrup did he do? The kind with acetominophen in it (which will destroy your liver)? As someone who has been investigating DXM closely for the last five years, I find this story loose. What was the actual cause of death, according to the coroner?
Coricidin has been implicated in several DXM-related deaths in the US, because of the maleate in it. But the reporter said the youth died from syrup, not from Coricidin. (Although the slang for Coricidin was included in the story, which helped muddy the issue.)
The reporter did give parents some signs to look for: slurred speech and empty cough syrup bottles "when it's not the cold & cough season."
While you're at it, why not give some harm reduction information, like, "Tell your kids to stay away from syrup that has acetominophen in it"?!
Parents tell their kids not to have sex. But some also tell them, "If you're going to have sex, at least use a condom." Harm reduction! Is it so hard?