WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The cough-cold category has been hampered in recent years by the abuse of cold remedies, part of the much larger problem of medication and substance abuse in this country.
The issue has been targeted relentlessly by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), the trade group that represents the over-the-counter medicine industry. The group--and the industry--has partnered with several other organizations in recent years to halt abuse.
At present, O-T-C cough medicines, particularly those that contain dextromethorphan (DXM), have been the primary target of abuse. As CHPA points out, DXM itself is a safe and effective nonnarcotic ingredient that has been used in cough medicines since the 1950s.
However, escalating numbers of teens have been taking large amounts of such cough medicines in order to get high. A 2009 CHPA report titled "Monitoring the Future" found that 6% of high school teens admitted to using cough medicine to get high, while the 2009 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study revealed that fully one-third of high school teens said they knew someone who has abused cough medicines.
In its latest move to halt the abuse CHPA last year partnered with the National Association of School Nurses to form "Home to Homeroom," an educational program that teams parents with school nurses to help prevent and address teen medication abuse. The program provides parents with advice and tools on how to integrate the subject of medication abuse into discussions of drugs with their children. A toolkit for school nurses and downloadable materials are available on StopMedicineAbuse.org, a collaborative educational destination that CHPA established in 2009 with WebMD to offer tips on how to spot likely cough medicine abuse.
The organization's wide-ranging and systematic effort to combat medication abuse includes two major initiatives launched in 2007. In that year CHPA partnered with D.A.R.E. America and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America as well as Abbott Laboratories to create specialized lessons for fifth-, seventh- and ninth-grade students to counter abuse of prescription and O-T-C medicines. The curriculum was developed with the support of law enforcement officers, the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy, the National Council on Patient Information and Education, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Food and Drug Administration, among other entities. It has since been expanded so that school nurses and administrators can teach the lessons as well as D.A.R.E. officers.
The association also launched a grassroots effort in 2007 called "Five Moms: Stopping Cough Medicine Abuse." Since its launch, it has reached more than 35 million people in the United States.
The campaign is centered around five women from across the country and from different walks of life, all of whom are dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers of cough medicine abuse. Their strategy is to use the Internet to reach as many parents as possible and alert them to the danger.
Last summer the industry faced the possibility that DXM might be reclassified as a controlled substance and that medicines containing it might be changed to prescription status.
However, last September an FDA advisory panel voted against the prescription requirement, even though a DEA report had cited a surge in the abuse of O-T-C cough medicines containing DXM. The report had noted that abuse of DXM had generated an estimated 7,988 emergency room visits in 2008, dramatically higher than the 4,634 occurrences in 2004.
The decision was hailed by the CHPA. "The FDA advisory committee decision not to recommend scheduling O-T-C cough medicines containing DXM as a controlled substance reflects a sound balancing of the benefits of O-T-C medicines containing DXM," the group said in a statement.
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