Dextromethorphan, which belongs to opioids, has something in common with morphine in its mechanism of action, and in recent years, some young people have taken a large amount of dextromethorphan in order to get pleasure addiction.
Recently, the Chengdu Xindu Public Security Bureau found and seized the excessive abuse of dextromethorphan by four minors in a community. These young people were invited online in advance, and then gathered together with liquor to take 14-28 tablets of dextromethorphan orally, and when they were found by the police, they were dancing and excited, and one of them was delirious and gradually lost cognition, and was sent to the hospital for treatment.
On November 30, the Red Star News reporter also found on social platforms that many young netizens shared their experiences and feelings of "drug abuse" and resold excess dextromethorphan, and the IP addresses of netizens were distributed in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangxi, Chongqing and other places. However, the "List of Prohibited Online Sales of Drugs (First Edition)" clearly states that dextromethorphan oral unilateral preparations are prohibited from being retailed through the Internet.
The reporter visited and found that a small number of pharmacies can still sell dextromethorphan hydrobromide tablets as prescription drugs without issuing a prescription.
* Dextromethorphan tablets found at the site.
Abuse of dextromethorphan
4 minorswas seized
Recently, the police of Chengdu Xindu Public Security Dafeng North Police Station found in their work that four people in a small area had illegal abuse of dextromethorphan tablets, three of whom were dancing and hyperactive when they were seized by the police, and another person Zhang was lying on the bed in a state of delirium and confusion. According to Xu, who was more sober, the four people at the scene were friends, and several people had taken 14 to 28 dextromethorphan tablets orally in the room with liquor.
Immediately, the police took the four people back to the police station and found that the four of them continued to behave strangely and had empty eyes, among which Zhang was suspected of gradually falling into a state of loss of cognition. The police immediately dialed 120 and sent Zhang to the hospital for treatment.
According to the doctor's diagnosis, Zhang was impaired with drug toxicity consciousness, and after several hours of gastric lavage and rescue, Zhang is now fine. Later, the police sent the urine samples of the four people to a professional appraisal agency for identification, and relevant components were detected in the samples of the four people.
The Red Star News reporter learned that the four were minors. They were invited through the Internet to take an overdose of dextromethorphan together to get pleasure. "They will have a lot of black words inside, which ordinary people can't understand, and these black words cover many aspects such as dosage, way of taking, and time of taking. * revealed, "O" means "OD", which translates to overdose, "T" refers to tablets or pills, referring to dextromethorphan units of measurement, and "Dextromethorphan", "Graceful" and "Youmi" are other names for the cough medicine dextromethorphan.
The dextromethorphan hydrobromide they consumed was a prescription drug, and this group of people bought it through online gray channels, offline pharmacies violating regulations**, etc.
According to Zhang, "Because it was illegal to smoke 'etomidate', the four of them turned to abusing dextromethorphan tablets, which have the same hallucinogenic effect as 'etomidate', through inquiries and inquiries." "There are similarities in the ingredients that can achieve similar or diminished effects, causing young people to turn to the more accessible dextromethorphan.
At present, the families of the four minors have been notified, and the relevant work is being further carried out.
"Cough medicine" is sought after
There are online and offline channels to obtain
Dextromethorphan, generally referred to as dextromethorphan hydrobromide, is a derivative of dextromorphine with antitussive effect, and is often used for cough caused by various respiratory infections.
Dextromethorphan is addictive when taken in large amounts, and euphoria, drunkenness, high excitement, paresthesia, visual and auditory hallucinations, etcIf the dosage is continued to be increased, central depression such as decreased responsiveness and orientation, drowsiness, coma, respiratory depression and even death may occur.
On social platforms, you can still see many young people discussing and pursuing dextromethorphan. In the Weibo "Right Beauty" topic, in the recent week alone, a number of young netizens shared their experiences of taking dextromethorphan, "o too much (overdose) rushed to the emergency department and almost gave me gastric lavage", "30t (30 tablets) I didn't feel it for half an hour", "Yesterday **o 20t (20 tablets), I couldn't tell the difference between reality and dreams, and I didn't know where I was".
Netizens shared. **, there are also posts about meeting to take drugs together and buying dextromethorphan everywhere. Judging from the IP address, this group of young people who are interested in "Right America" are located in Beijing, Shanghai, Fujian, Chongqing, Shandong and other provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government.
The tablet "dextromethorphan hydrobromide tablets" is produced by a number of pharmaceutical companies, including China Resources Shuanghe, Taihua Pharmaceutical, Neptunus Pharmaceutical, Yiling Pharmaceutical, Huanan Pharmaceutical, Shanghai Shangyao Xinyi Pharmaceutical Factory, Livzon Group Livzon Pharmaceutical Factory, Xinya Pharmaceutical and Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical.
In December 2021, the State Food and Drug Administration (NMPA) announced that dextromethorphan, an over-the-counter (OTC) drug (hydrobromide), would be converted to a prescription drug (RX). On December 1, 2022, the "List of Prohibited Drugs for Online Sales (First Edition)" was officially implemented, which clarified:Dextromethorphan oral monotherapy is prohibited from being retailed online.
Dextromethorphan is banned from online retail.
The Red Star News reporter searched and found that in Haikou, Ruichang and other cities, pharmacies were fined for selling dextromethorphan in violation of regulations.
On November 30, the Red Star News reporter visited a number of pharmacies in Qingyang District and Chenghua District of Chengdu and successfully bought multiple boxes of dextromethorphan, ranging from 15 yuan to 19 yuan per box.
Because dextromethorphan hydrobromide tablets are prescription drugs, patients need to have a prescription or an electronic prescription before they can be issued. However, at the two pharmacies in Wannian Street and Baohe Street in Chenghua District, the reporter did not issue any prescription and did not show identity information to buy dextromethorphan hydrobromide tablets.
On December 1, the Red Star News reporter reported the matter to the Market Supervision Bureau of Chenghua District, Chengdu. On the same day, the Wannianchang Market Supervision and Administration Office and the Baohe Market Supervision and Administration Office immediately organized law enforcement personnel to conduct on-site inspections of the two pharmacies to verify and investigate the relevant situation. After verification, the problem was found to be true, and the two pharmacies had committed the illegal act of selling prescription drugs without a prescription.
In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Drug Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, the law enforcement officers gave the pharmacy a warning and administrative punishment, and ordered the pharmacy to make immediate rectification, requiring the sale of prescription drugs with prescriptions in accordance with the provisions on the management of drug classification. Subsequently, law enforcement officers conducted special inspections on retail pharmacies around the jurisdiction to regulate the sales of prescription drugs in retail pharmacies. In the next step, the Chenghua District Market Supervision Bureau will carry out a special action on the sale of prescription drugs in retail pharmacies, and increase efforts to investigate and deal with violations of laws and regulations in the sale of prescription drugs.
After receiving the report, the Wannianchang Market Supervision and Management Office immediately organized law enforcement personnel to conduct on-site inspections of the pharmacies involved.
Expert analysis
Abuse can cause brain damage and have a fatal risk
Dextromethorphan belongs to the opioid classIt has something in common with morphine in its mechanism of action, all act on opioid receptors, but there are differences in the intensity of action and the location of the receptors. Zhai Haifeng, an associate researcher at the China Institute of Drug Dependence at Peking University, told Red Star News that dextromethorphan itself is a relatively weak opioid receptor agonist, which usually acts on opioid receptors in the medulla oblongata and exerts an antitussive effect.
In high doses, dextromethorphan acts like morphine, acting on opioid receptors in the limbic midbrain, causing euphoria and addiction. With normal use, 1-2 tablets each time can have an antitussive effect without obvious euphoria;If you use 5 or 10 tablets at a time, you may feel euphoric, and after a long time, you will become addictedWhat's more, some people will continue to increase the dosage in order to pursue higher pleasure and the tolerance generated. At this time, if there is a management loophole in the circulation link, dextromethorphan can be easily obtained, and there may be abuse of dextromethorphan. Zhai Haifeng explained.
Part of dextromethorphan that the reporter bought at a pharmacy.
What happens after an abuse of dextromethorphan?Zhai Haifeng explained. Dextromethorphan is a central drug, and high doses increase the risk of respiratory depression. In extreme cases, death may occur due to respiratory depression. Long-term abuse can cause brain damage and mental confusion.
For people who abuse dextromethorphan, Zhai Haifeng recommends seeking help from professionals in professional hospitals and psychological counseling institutions, because it is difficult to quit by relying on personal strength. If you quit suddenly, "relatively speaking, the withdrawal symptoms may not be as strong as morphine and ** addiction, but the person concerned will have some psychological and physiological discomfort, such as muscle pain, watery eyes, runny nose and other symptoms, which vary according to the degree of addiction and physical condition of the individual." ”
Say "no" to substance abuse!
Previously, etomidate had been officially listed
In February this year, the State Food and Drug Administration, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Post Bureau issued a notice on the "Notice of the General Department of the State Food and Drug Administration, the General Office of the Ministry of Public Security, and the Office of the State Post Bureau on Further Strengthening the Administration of Compound Diphenoxylate Tablets and Other Drugs" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice").
The notice makes it clear that there is a problem of abuse of five types of drugs such as dextromethorphan oral unilateral preparations in some parts of China, and the abuse population is mainly teenagers, which seriously endangers the physical and mental health and life safety of the public, especially teenagers. The "Notice" puts forward requirements such as strictly controlling the production of drugs, strengthening the supervision of drug business links, and strengthening the inspection of delivery channels.
At the national level, if a drug is highly addictive and has a relatively high risk of abuse, the state will strengthen the management of the drug according to the size of the risk of abuse, and may even control it as a psychotropic or narcotic drug. For example, in the past, dextromethorphan was an over-the-counter drug, and users could easily buy it from pharmaciesIn 2021, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) converted dextromethorphan hydrobromide from an over-the-counter drug to a prescription drug, making it more difficult for abusers to obtain dextromethorphan under prescription drug management.
If the risk of abuse is found to be increasing in the future, the state will also adopt stricter management measures. Zhai Haifeng analyzed.
A similar example is etomidate. Since October 1 this year, the State Food and Drug Administration has included etomidate (except for pharmaceutical preparations containing etomidate approved for marketing in China) in the list of Class II psychotropic drugs. Etomidate is the "top e-cigarette" that has been popular in some young people's circles. Since the beginning of this year, the State Food and Drug Administration, the Ministry of Public Security, and the National Health Commission have issued two announcements on the adjustment of high-quality products and psychotropic drugs, adding 10 kinds of narcotic drugs.
**Reminder:When taking medicines, you should strictly follow the doctor's instructions, use the drug according to the drug instructions, and avoid overdose and over-range use, overdose not only can not cure the disease but also hurt the body, and long-term use is more likely to form addiction!Call on the general public to use drugs safely and say "no" to abuse together.
*: Red Star News.