California Becomes First State to Prohibit Sale of Cough Medicines Containing DXM to Minors

This week, California became the first state to prohibit the sale of over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicines containing the active ingredient dextromethorphan (DXM) to minors. The legislation, SB 514, authored by State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), was signed into law Wednesday.

DXM is a safe and effective ingredient found in more than 100 OTC cough and cold products. But while millions of Americans rely on DXM-containing medicines for relief from cough symptoms, some teens abuse large amounts of cough medicine containing dextromethorphan – sometimes as much as 25 to 50 times the recommended dose – to get high.

CADCA and its long-time partner, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), have been trying to educate families and communities about the dangers of abusing DXM for many years, including developing a toolkit about this problem, entitled A Dose of Prevention: Stopping Cough Medicine Abuse Before It Starts, in 2007.

“The makers of over-the-counter cough medicines never want to see products abused or misused in any way. We take very seriously our obligation to educate and raise awareness about cough medicine abuse among teens,” said CHPA President and CEO Scott M. Melville. “This unprecedented action by California lawmakers will help address medicine abuse and sets a high standard that we would ultimately like to see enacted nationwide.”

For more tools about this issue and to get involved in CADCA’s current campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of medicine abuse, CADCA 50 Challenge, visit www.preventrxabuse.org.