'Robo-tripping' or 'skittling' latest drug craze among teens
Categories: Teens & Tweens, Safety, Media, Education
Partying with cough syrup: it's not just for Mormon teens anymore! A new study indicates that there's currently a trend among all teens (not just LDS) to get wasted on massive doses legal, over-the-counter drugs and cough syrup. Kids call it 'robo-tripping' or 'skittling' and it simply involves taking as many over-the-counter pills in any combination as possible, and then ingesting cough suppresants that contain an ingredient called dextromethorphan, or DXM, for short. A popular choice for kids in "coriciden," a sweet-tasting cough supressant containing DXM that kids refer to as 'Triple C.' When taken in high doses, these drug mixtures can create a high of euphoria and even hallucinations. The new study reports a growing number of teens are abusing cough medicines, finding a ten-fold increase in reported abuse between 1999 and 2004. Kids like abusing these substances because they are legal, cheap, and easily accessible.
Kids, one day you can't get them to take their medicine and then you turn around and all of a sudden they are taking way more than they need to experience euphoria and hallucinations. Gotta love 'em.
Recent Posts
- Adoption Agencies Banned From Asking Parents About Guns (3/19/2010)
- Opinion: Proms Should Not Include Dates (3/19/2010)
- Stroller Review: BOB Revolution Duallie (3/19/2010)
- Opinion: Is Being a Wimpy Kid Better Than Being Cool? (3/19/2010)
- Mom and Baby Rattle and Roll at SXSW (3/19/2010)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Christine 12-15-2006 @ 11:41AM
I dont get the mormon thing. I live in Phoenix... so there are a lot of LDS churches here that I see... I've never heard the Mormom/LDS cough medicine connection...
I have however seen this being a teen thing since I was a kid. They probably think it is more appealing than huffing lysol.
It's all silly. Eat some chocolate.
Reply
J.D. 12-15-2006 @ 3:56PM
I hung out with a lot of mormons when I was a kid. they thought it was okay to get wasted on this stuff, but wouldn't touch alcohol. or coffee. I also knew a mormon who thought it would be okay if he huffed paint. old joe never said anything about huffing paint I guess.
Reply
Bad teen 12-15-2006 @ 11:51AM
I did this in high school 10 years ago. All it did was make us throw up!
Reply
daisy 12-15-2006 @ 1:35PM
When I was in high school in the late 80s/early 90s, there was a guy we called "Robo" because cough medicine was his drug of choice. And while there were a few Mormons amongst us, he was not one of them.
Reply
Nancy Toby 12-15-2006 @ 1:38PM
Thanks for the PSA - though I think your conclusion is a little flippant, considering that dextromethorphan abuse has caused at least five recent deaths of teenagers:
http://uuhsc.utah.edu/pharmacy/alerts/93.html
Reply
Kris 12-15-2006 @ 5:16PM
What the hell? What is with the Mormon comment? I have never heard of that in my life and I grew up in a Mormon area...I don't get it. Maybe it was just your messed up area that you lived in? I think that is a pretty unprofessional thing to write, especially in a venue like this. WOW.
Reply
29 1-22-2007 @ 11:59AM
trust me it works and its great bring your kids
Reply