US CHPA welcomes new anti-cough medicine abuse law

The US Consumer Healthcare Products Association has welcomed the passage of HR5280, the 2006 Dextromethorphan Distribution Act. The new law prohibits the distribution of the active ingredient to anyone other than a Food and Drug Administration-registered drugmaker.

The CHPA earlier rounded on the "troubling trend of teenagers taking vast amounts of otherwise safe medicines, both prescription and over-the-counter, to get high." The Washington DC-headquartered group issued its warning following the publication, in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, of a report on the abuse of OTC cough medicines containing dextromethorphan by teenagers in California. Linda Suydam, the CHPA's president, urged the US Senate to "move swiftly to pass the bill," but will campaign for further sales restrictions.