Drug cocktail usage increases despite risks

Recent trends show that the use of pharmaceutical drugs like painkillers for mind-altering purposes is on the rise, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s Diversion of Legitimate Drugs.

By Ian Wright Daily Texan (U. Texas-Austin) 06/27/2000 (U-WIRE) AUSTIN, Texas — Recent trends show that the use of pharmaceutical drugs like painkillers for mind-altering purposes is on the rise, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s Diversion of Legitimate Drugs. The latest drug problem involves codeine and benzodiazepine drugs particularly codeine cough syrup, which is available by prescription only. It has been known to be deadly in combination with other drugs such as marijuana and heroin, according to research by the University of Maryland Center for Substance Abuse. Manny Mendoza, a provisional student at the University of Texas, said he knows people who combine pharmaceutical and illegal drugs for the enhanced effect it has on the user. Mendoza said he once found a friend passed out in a parking lot because she was using two drugs simultaneously. “I know a lot of girls that mix codeine with alcohol,” Mendoza said. “It intensifies, for a quicker drunk,” Mendoza said. Jane Maxwell, chief of research for the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, said people blend drugs because they are unaware of the added risks. “Clearly the people that mix these drugs do not know what they are doing,” Maxwell said. Another trend in drug cocktail use is to dip a joint in embalming fluid which contains PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, according to a Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse substance abuse report. Gamma-hydroxybutyrate, a central nervous system depressant that was once sold as a performance enhancing additive, is now a popular but illegal street drug known as Liquid X, according to TCADA. GHB can be deadly when combined with alcohol and other drugs, which increases the potential for overdose. “A lot of the people that mix their drugs go to the emergency room because they overdose,” Maxwell said. Ritalin, a drug commonly given to Attention Deficit Disorder patients, is one of the controlled substances most often stolen from prescribed users, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Kelley Cyphers, a recent graduate of Reagan High School, said drug combinations are common among high school students. He added that mixing is more common among those who know people with drug prescriptions. “I know people mix to get high, but if you don’t know somebody with a prescription, then I don’t know how people do it,” Cyphers said. Sixty-two percent of Texans in treatment have problems with more than one drug, Maxwell said. She said the negative consequences of mixing drugs are greater than people think and can cause problems more serious than those associated with single drug use. “People do not know what they are getting into when they combine substances,” Maxwell said. “They think one plus one equals two, but really one and one equals six.”