Club drugs: is your child a user? A million teens between 12 and 17 are addicted to recreational drugs. Another million are alcohol dependent. Forty percent of U.S. teens expect to use drugs at some point. Twenty percent of eighth graders have already tried marijuana

Vibrant Life, July-August, 2004 by Richard Maffeo

MANY TEENS COME FACE-TO-FACE WITH CLUB DRUGS AT ALL-NIGHT DANCE PARTIES (RAVES) AND CONCERTS. Others learn about them on school playgrounds, ball fields, or even in church youth groups. They have a dizzying array to choose from; and parents face an increasingly difficult struggle to protect them from serious, potentially deadly outcomes. * The cold fact is, this is where our 'tweens and teens live. The better we understand their world, the better we can help them avoid getting sucked into the drug culture--or help them escape from it.

COUGH MEDICINE (DXM)

Cory Coleman left his friends at the movie theater that Saturday evening and walked across a divided highway toward the supermarket.

He never made it. Two cars slammed into him at high speed, one after the other. Autopsy tests found dextromethorphan (DXM) in his body. That cough-suppressing drug, an ingredient in more than 125 over-the-counter cold and cough medicines, is one of several popular club drugs.

Depending on the dose, DXM produces symptoms ranging from a sense of floating and euphoria to vivid hallucinations, profuse sweating, and nausea. At high doses, DXM alters the brain's ability to regulate body temperature, respiration, and heart rate.

Coricidin is the drug of choice because the dose of DXM in Coricidin is twice that of most other cold medications. Recreational users refer to Coricidin Cough and Cold tablets using names like triple C, red devils, red C, or skittles (because they look like candy).

What makes cold medications especially dangerous are the drugs combined with the cough suppressants to relieve other symptoms. Too much acetaminophen (a pain reliever) can destroy the liver. An overdose of Guaifenesin (an expectorant) can cause severe nausea and vomiting.

A chlorpheniramine maleate (antihistamine) overdose kills brain cells.

GAMMA HYDROXYBUTYRATE (GHB)

Caleb Shortridge thought he was drinking water from a half-filled water bottle on the table at his friend's house. Then he was told it was GHB. No one seemed concerned. They thought it was a harmless club drug. Even after Caleb passed out, his buddies told his girlfriend he'd sleep it off. "Just check on him every so often to make sure he's positioned on his side and still breathing, but don't bother calling 9-1-1," they admonished.

Caleb never woke up.

GHB, a colorless and odorless liquid, is known as Georgia home boy, grievous bodily harm, and liquid ecstasy. At lower doses, GHB produces effects similar to alcohol intoxication. Users often report feeling euphoric, affectionate, and having increased energy. Sometimes they experience hallucinations. At higher doses, GHB may cause vomiting, convulsions, coma, and, if not treated, death. Unfortunately, the dose that produces euphoria and intoxication is unpredictable and can differ by milligrams (a drop) from the dose that kills.

Getting high is not the only reason people use GHB. Sexual predators slip the drug into the drinks of unsuspecting women (and men), leaving them defenseless against rape. Like another club drug, Rohypnol, GHB causes long-lasting amnesia so that victims remember very little, if anything, about the assault. That's why GHB and Rohypnol are called "date-rape drugs."

METHYLENE-DIOXY-METHAMPHETAMINE (ECSTASY)

Seventeen-year-old Megan never thought Ecstasy and other club drugs would do so much damage to her body. "I lost a lot of weight and got major kidney problems," she states. "I was in the hospital for days.... Drugs may take away the pain you feel inside, but they leave devastation in your body that will haunt you for life."

Many users say Ecstasy (also known as MDMA, X, E, Adam, and clarity) gives them a sense of increased energy as well as tactile, auditory, and visual hallucinations. Users claim instant social ease and affection and commonly give each other passionate body massages. Others become overwhelmed with a sense of "huggability" and an enhanced sense of touch. It's not surprising, then, that teens ask, "What can be so bad about something that feels so good?"

The answer? Plenty.

MDMA speeds the depletion of brain chemicals such as serotonin. Serotonin regulates mood, sleep, memory, perception, emotion, and appetite. Ecstasy also interferes with the brain's ability to produce more of these chemicals. As little as one dose of MDMA can decrease serotonin levels for up to two weeks. When used at moderate to high doses, the depletion may last several years. Recent evidence suggests it may last a lifetime because MDMA destroys serotonin-producing cells in the brain.

MARIJUANA

Fifty-year old Peter Roselli can speak about marijuana from experience--five years of it. From the time he was 17 until well into his 22nd year, he smoked pot virtually every day. He thought he could quit any time he wanted. Now, he knows better.

"I really regret having missed those five years of my life. l could have used those years preparing for my future. Because of my addiction, all l wanted to do was stay high. No one can tell me I wasn't psychologically addicted to the stuff," he says.