A recent edition of The Wichita Eagle included an article about cough medicine abuse. Living fairly close to Wichita as I do, the coverage of this issue in a local paper caught my eye.

The article had commentary from Tim Scanlan, a Wichita addiction specialist and an expert in the field of cough medicine abuse. He said one of the most important things in educating kids about any kind of drug abuse is to be honest. When the risks and effects are taken out of context or exaggerated, kids may stop listening or stop thinking there are real risks.

As Scanlan said:

“False stories damage the credibility of anti-drug messages…The best thing is to tell the truth.”

We’ve all procrastinated and waited until the last minute to do something. Think of all of the people you know who have put off doing taxes until this week, for example. And we’ve probably all realized that we could have made things easier had we just started sooner. Good planning early on can be crucial in making sure we get things done correctly, even though it may be difficult.

The same thing is true about talking with your kids about cough medicine abuse; don’t put off the opportunity to make a difference in their lives. Talk with them about the issue, and continue the conversation. Then, when the time comes for them to make a decision, they’ll be more likely to make the safe one and refuse to abuse cough medicine.

Do you remember playing the telephone game when you were little? Everyone would sit in a circle and a message would be passed around to one person at a time. The goal of the game was to get the message all the way around the circle.

Try telling a friend about Five Moms and cough medicine abuse. Ask them to tell their friends about it as well, and tell them to tell their friends, and their friends’ friends. Let’s see if we can spread the message so far that it comes full circle and gets back to you.

At Five Moms we have tons of information you can read, we have a community on Gather, and we have our All-Star contest, but have you seen our Five Moms video?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video can be worth millions. And this video has even additional value, in that it was made to help raise awareness about teens abusing cough medicine. So watch it, show it to your friends, or put it on your blog and help us spread the word.

In case you missed it, there was a story during the March 21st CBS Evening News discussing cough medicine abuse. The piece made a point about how teens access information on the Internet about cough medicine abuse.

The Internet can be a powerful and helpful tool to find all kinds of information. It is the primary way that we here at Five Moms are working to spread the word about cough medicine abuse. But we need to keep an eye on what our kids are reading and watching. Talk with your children about what they look at online. Make it a positive conversation to show your interest in what they have found. It will help you praise them for what they are doing right.

There was a story in the news this past week about a young man from New York who was sentenced to jail after a fatal car accident while high on cough medicine. The young man—only 21-years-old—crossed a double yellow line while driving under the influence of extreme amounts of dextromethorphan and collided head-on with another vehicle driving in the opposite direction, killing an 87-year-old man.

The story is a tragedy for all involved.

Let’s all do all we can to try to prevent tragedies like this in the future. For ways to talk with your kids about substance abuse, visit timetotalk.org. Also check out our tips on preventing cough medicine abuse and share them with others.

Because of my desire to reach Hispanic-American families with our message, I wanted to remind you all about our Spanish-language section here at Five Moms. We have the same great educational resources there as we do on our English-language pages.

• Find information on cough medicine abuse.
• Learn the warning signs for abuse.
• Get great tips on how to talk to your kids.

Cough medicine abuse can affect anybody, no matter what language they speak at home. So please join us in our efforts to keep all our kids safe from cough medicine abuse, en su propio idioma (your own language).

Let’s step back, and take a breath for a moment. The life of a parent is filled with schedules, responsibilities, stresses, and challenges. It’s sometimes worthwhile to take some time and reflect on the good stuff in life, and the good things we all do.

I like to do this sometimes with our Five Moms site. We have so many resources here for parents to get educated and protect their kids from cough medicine abuse. We even have a place for people to go on Gather to discuss what we write here. And for those who stand out and go above and beyond, we have our Five Moms All-Star contest.

I encourage you to take a minute when you’re feeling overwhelmed and look at some of the good things you’ve done or times you’ve helped your kids. Your kids are better off for your efforts and it’s good to remind yourself that you are making a difference in keeping your kids healthy and safe.

It’s not illegal, so my folks shouldn’t worry about it.

It seems like this is a rationale among some teens who abuse medicines, either prescription or over-the-counter. But the fact is that medicine abuse is dangerous.

Teenagers who abuse cough medicine could be taking as much as 25-50 times the recommend dose of the products. And this abuse can lead to dangerous health effects, like loss of physical coordination, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, rapid heart beat, and disorientation. And the dangers can be increased if the teen is abusing cough medicine in combination with other medications, alcohol, or illegal drugs.

We urge you to educate yourself at Five Moms about cough medicine abuse and the importance of always knowing exactly what medicines—prescription and over-the-counter—are in your medicine cabinet.

Our message and mission hinge on spreading awareness among parents about ways to prevent cough medicine abuse. It is important to us because it helps bring to light a behavior that can be very dangerous.

Occasionally, we like to take a second to remind you of our simple request. There are many reasons to stay updated about cough medicine abuse, but protecting your kids is the most important. If you can inform your children about the negative effects of intentionally abusing dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in over-the-counter cough medicines, they will be less likely to do so.

For you to have this conversation effectively, you need to educate yourself. It is important that we, as parents, arm ourselves with all the knowledge we can get in the fight against cough medicine abuse. As you learn more, you can have better discussions with your children, and it will help you talk with other parents as well.