Cold Medicine Abuse Produces Hallucinogenic High —
Al’s Morning Meeting reader AllyMcNBair at New Hampshire Public TV spotted this story, “Abusing cold medicine to produce a hallucinogenic high has become a ‘mini epidemic’ among the city’s teens, according to police.
“‘Robotripping’ is a slang term for intentionally overdosing on over-the-counter cold medication, such as Robitussin. Though the practice isn’t as widespread as alcohol or marijuana use, detective Timothy Peloquin said he has seen enough to raise an alarm.
“In recent months, at least four Keene teenagers have been hospitalized after overdosing on over-the-counter cold relief products, Peloquin said. He said others have been turned over to their parents, and there are probably more that haven’t been reported to police.
“Last year in the United States, 14 people died from intentionally overdosing on cold medicine, according to statistics from the N.H. Poison Information Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon.
”’It’s one of those sick fads that comes and goes,’ Peloquin said.
“Lin Courtemanche, who works for the state’s poison control center, said her office is also worried about ‘robotripping’ by teenagers. But determining just how widespread it is isn’t easy, she said.”
Dr Von King at the Hazelden Mental Health Center in Plymouth, Minn., told the Pioneer Press, ‘I have been surprised at the number (of users),’ King says. ‘It isn’t the No. 1 drug of choice (but) when they can’t find anything else, they go to the cough syrup.’
“King has found that cough syrup abusers are relatively easy to treat. However, the availability of the drug may be the hardest thing to conquer, she says.
“Drug experts say they hear more and more stories like King’s, detailing teenage misuse of the over-the-counter cough suppressant dextromethorphan (DXM).”
Schools Must Gives Kids’ Names to Military Recruiters
As part of the No Child Left Behind Act, Congress now requires public or private schools that receive federal education funding to turn over students’ names, addresses and phone numbers to military recruiters, and to allow recruiters onto their campuses.
Mother Jones said, “The military complained this year that up to 15 percent of the nation’s high schools are ‘problem schools’ for recruiters. In 1999, the Pentagon says, recruiters were denied access to schools on 19,228 occasions.
“Rep. David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana who sponsored the new recruitment requirement, says such schools ‘demonstrated an anti-military attitude that I thought was offensive.’
“To many educators, however, requiring the release of personal information intrudes on the rights of students. ‘We feel it is a clear departure from the letter and the spirit of the current student privacy laws,’ says Bruce Hunter, chief lobbyist for the American Association of School Administrators. Until now, schools could share student information only with other educational institutions. ‘Now other people will want our lists,’ says Hunter. ‘It’s a slippery slope. I don’t want student directories sent to Verizon either, just because they claim that all kids need a cell phone to be safe.'”
Car Insurance Hikes Follow-up
Several of you have looked into the car insurance rate hike story I mentioned a couple of times. Morning Meeting reader Kathy Times at WVTM-TV Birmingham found, “Alabama’s insurance commissioner says one reason premiums are going up is because the number of serious accidents is going up in the state. Homewood resident Roger Perrin says his car insurance payments seem to go up every six months. It went up $300 over the last year for coverage on three cars. His truck is pretty new, but he says he and his wife aren’t high-risk drivers.
“‘We have no children at home. No accidents. No speeding tickets and our insurance keeps going up,’ Perrin said.
“Perrin is insured by Progressive. It’s just one of the insurance companies increasing the cost of coverage this year.
“According to the Alabama Department of Insurance, Progressive Specialty Insurance raised its personal car insurance rates by 4.8 percent this year. Metropolitan General Insurance raised its rates by 9.9 percent.
“Most recently, the insurance commissioner approved a 5.1 percent rate hike for State Farm drivers, which amounts to a hike of about $25 for a driver with a $500 premium.”
Recently, The Charlotte Observer found a wild story about car insurance, “The insurance industry announced it would raise the ceiling on auto insurance premiums by 5.9 percent starting in late January. But, you ask, didn’t the state insurance commissioner recently order a 17.8 percent decrease in the maximum rates? Indeed he did. So what’s up? The amount you’ll pay for auto insurance, that’s what. Why? Because in North Carolina the insurance commissioner can order a decrease in rates but the insurance industry can go ahead and raise your rates until the courts can settle the dispute between the industry and the commissioner.”
Cat Cancer Doubles if Owner Smokes
Cats living in homes where people smoke cigarettes are more than twice as likely as other cats to acquire a deadly cancer, lymphoma, according to a study published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
“Researchers have shown an increase of certain types of cancer in dogs if their owners smoke, but the new study is the first to provide evidence of this effect in cats.
“‘Smoke has devastating consequences for cats,’ said Dr. Antony S. Moore, who was involved in the study and is director of Tufts University’s Harrington Oncology Program. Board-certified by the Specialty of Oncology, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. He says that cats may inhale secondhand smoke or ingest particulate matter from their fur when they groom themselves.
“Lymphoma is the most common cancer in cats.”
When to Charge Parents
When unsupervised children die in accidents, authorities confront the varied standards that parents and communities hold on the appropriate supervision of children. The Star Tribune did a thoughtful story on the issue.
McTeachers
The San Francisco Chronicle reported, ” Teachers at a South San Francisco school are being asked to pour milk shakes, salt fries and flip burgers at McDonald’s to raise money for their school — and some of them are burned up about it.
“McDonald’s calls it ‘McTeacher’s Night,’ a fund-raiser set up by the fast- food chain that gives 20 percent of the profits for teachers who volunteer three hours behind the counter. While they can always use extra cash for the classroom, some Martin Elementary School teachers believe it’s degrading for them and unhealthy for the kids, who are encouraged to bring their families to dine at the Golden Arches.
“‘We will be endorsing a product that contributes to the epidemic of childhood obesity and heart disease, even though the state dictates that we teach students to avoid junk food,’ said first-grade teacher Rebecca Coolidge.
“In the past two years, the fast-food giant has expanded its McTeachers Night event to 2,500 schools in 14 western states. Last year McDonald’s donated $500,000 through the program, and schools earned about $800 each.”
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