KTKA

Some Topeka students are using a new way to get high and it's not through illegal drugs. Kids are using cough and cold medicine to create the feel of being high or drunk. They're using over the counter medicines, not the ones now kept behind the pharmacy counter.

Topeka School Resource Officers are on alert after multiple reports of students abusing these drugs. "A cheap and legal high," is one of the reasons Pharmacist Amy Allen said kids abuse cold medicine.

SRO's are on alert after reports that some kids are abusing cold medicine with a specific ingredient called Dextromethorphan or DXM.

"There have been some reports of kids as young as 12 possibly up to the age of 18 who have been purchasing over the counter cough medicines that has a particular ingredient," Sergeant Lance Feyh with the Topeka Police Department said.

Topeka Pharmacist Amy Allen said the drug gives kids a different feeling if a lot is taken all at once. "Hallucinations, passing out, the feeling of being drunk, especially when combined with alcohol. Before long you are passed out you are unconscious and you are in the hospital. It could even cause death at some point."

Some pharmacies have moved the medicine with the highest content of DXM behind the counter, but other medicines with some DXM are still easily accessible.

"We had some kids in Topeka who were possibly stealing that sort of medication," Feyh said, and said there are some signs parents can look for. "See if there is a lot of different medication boxes or a lot of the same medication boxes."

Since it's not illegal for a minor to buy cold medicine, Sgt. Feyh said stores need to keep an eye on the person buying it. "Anybody can go in there and buy that obviously if you've got three or four 12, 13, 14, 15 year old kids going in there any buying a whole bunch of it, that is going to alert the pharmacists, the clerk at the store, and maybe they are going to question that."

This drug is also called Skittles, Dexing, Robo-tripping, and Triple C's. If you hear your child using these terms, Sgt. Feyh said talk to them about it.

SRO's say they will keep teaching students about the negative effects of abusing these drugs.