EDITORIAL – Regulations on cold meds no magic cure

Here at Pitt, we have a fever — and the only prescription is more drug regulation.

Iowa… Here at Pitt, we have a fever — and the only prescription is more drug regulation.

Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said yesterday that he would sign a bill controlling the sale of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine. And the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran an article on teens abusing cold medicines containing dextromethorphan, or DXM, and the lengths to which many are going to keep it away from kids.

If we’ve learned one thing at college, it’s that the more unavailable something is, the more people want it. There’s nothing like the added mystique of a locked cabinet or a government regulation to make teen-agers want to ingest whatever it is adults are trying to deny them.

Cold medicine is no different. Make it unavailable, and its appeal will only increase. Buying it will become more than a trip to the drugstore; it’ll be an adventure in defying authority, which, from what we hear, is what being a teen-ager is all about.

These medicines, while perhaps not as glamorous as many illegal drugs, are a readily available, inexpensive high. Some drugstores are now restricting the number of DXM products people can buy, or are only selling these medications to people older than 18 — because, of course, no one older than 18 is looking for a cheap way to get messed up, which is why no one drinks Coors pounders.

Additionally, pseudoephedrine is a chief ingredient in methamphetamine — a fun, Midwestern, all-your-teeth-fall-out drug. Because anyone with a pack of sinus meds and a basic knowledge of chemistry can make meth, many states are beginning to regulate the sales of drugs containing pseudoephedrine.

While this reactive move might prevent people from making meth, it certainly won’t eradicate the illegal-drugs-synthesized-from-legal-drugs problem. A quick stroll down the medicine aisle reveals that we do have better living through chemistry, and that that chemistry can be used to make illegal things. If the failed war on drugs proves anything, it’s that people can make drugs out of just about anything — inhalants, whipped cream canisters, medications, etcetera.

Instead of just playing keep-away, the government should actually tell kids what drinking a bunch of cough syrup or smoking something made with hydroiodic acid will do to them.

We’re not asking for another “this is your brain on drugs” campaign or any other ineffective propaganda from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. Rather, people should be educated and — gasp — told the truth about these drugs. While education might not be a perfect solution — that blackened lung in health class didn’t keep many of us from smoking — at least it’s more honest than denial or scare tactics.

Plus, in this situation, the truth is pretty icky. Extended DXM abuse will lead to all sorts of fun, like liver damage and convulsions; meth eats your organs and can make you psychotic. So rather than putting these drugs on the high shelf with a “don’t touch these, they’re way too fun” message, tell kids the truth. It sounds crazy, but just might work.