The harmless looking herbal pills and the pink snurf pills sold mainly through the internet have caught the younger generation’s fancy, more so for the euphoria associated with them.
With earlier reports of many teens taking to cough syrups as drugs, snurf is the latest hit. A concoction of dextromethorphan, also called DXM, it is a kind of synthetic morphine analog, usually seen in cough suppressants and some over-the-counter medicines. Recently, it has been the cause of hospitalization of four 10th graders in Pennsylvania.
"It's the ninth- and 10th-graders who are doing the dex," says Deborah Levine, MD, attending physician at New York's Bellevue Hospital Center. Having recently published a study on Pharming - the abuse of prescription and nonprescription drugs by teens, Levine has found that one out of every 10 kids studying in 7th -12th grade have at least once used DXM. "In California, they have seen a 15-fold increase in kids aged 9-17."
According to Michael Windle, PhD, Chair of Behavior Sciences and Health Education at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, the use of DXM and other over-the-counter drugs is on the rise from eighth grade onwards.
"The message isn't out there of the potential dangers of using these substances. You have a very dangerous combination of fairly easy access with absence of messages of potential harm," says Windle.
Windle who has had a 20 year long study history of teen substance abuse, believes that kids often do not realize how harmful these substances are. In fact, they more often than not consider them to be healthy and helpful alternatives because of the word “herbal” used for them on the internet, which is quite a misnomer.
This can be proved by the fact that many snurf products carry the listed herbal ingredients as - Fevizia, Palenzia, and De la Amazon. Much to the horror of cross checkers, no such herbs exist.
Available since 2005 the product is also sold under names like - Snuffadelic and Red Dawn Vector Euphoria Enhancer.
"They say it is not illegal and that it is an herb, so adolescents may think it is actually healthy for you," Windle says. "This is a clever marketing gimmick to sell it online. You remove any guilt these adolescents may have about taking a drug."
DXM which is the key component of Snurf pills is not only toxic but also leads to impairment of the senses, making it all the more harmful, especially when the kids take it in the high doses that they do.
Mostly teens take 6-12 times the regular dose, ending up in severe conditions of toxicity, with dangerous side effects, which according to Windle many a times result in “hospitalizations and even death”.
Other side effects of these drugs can be loss of memory, depression
define, blurred sense of identity, detachment from self and anxiety.
For parents, Levine suggests they take more interest in their child’s life and keep a vigil on any behavioral inconsistencies they sense. "I would just warn parents to be cognizant of what their children are like; to know their daily routines and to know if they are too tired, or if their school performance is off," she says. "Talk to kids. They should know these are serious medicines. Injuries and even deaths can occur."
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