Middle-School Custodian Was First To Spot Girls 'Under The Influence' In Cold Meds Incident

The three girls treated for abusing cold medicine Monday at a school in Morgan Hill downed 10 to 12 tablets each before a custodian noticed their erratic behavior and reported them, the school’s principal said today.

The eighth grade students at Britton Middle School apparently meet during lunch break Monday after taking the Coricidin brand, over-the-counter tablets and emerged from the girl’s restroom when the employee spotted them, principal Glen Webb said.

The custodian observed them in the hallway where “they looked under the influence” and escorted them to the school office, Webb said.

From an investigation into the girls’ drug abuse, a male student of the school is suspected of selling them two 32-pill boxes of Coricidin he purchased from a local store, Webb said.

Two of the girls took 10 tablets each - 10 times the normal dosage -- and a third swallowed 12, Webb said.

The girls, ranging from 12 to 13 years old, suffered heart rates elevating sharply to 170 beats a minute and appeared disoriented and intoxicated prior to being sent to Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, Webb said.

They were treated and released the same day but health care providers will be monitoring them for the possibility of liver damage due to the high dosage of the drugs they abused, he said.

The principal called the store where the boy allegedly bought the medicine and the manager decided to pull all of the Coricidin from the shelves, Webb said.

Morgan Hill police have decided not to charge the boy suspected of selling the girls the cold remedy because it was legal, over-the-counter medicine, police Capt. Jerry Neumayer said.

[Previous: Morgan Hill Boy Accused Of Selling Cold Meds That Sickened Girls Won’t Be Charged.]

Webb said that the school, however, could suspend any student for up to five days or recommend expulsion for, as stated under the state Education Code 48900, possessing or selling “an intoxicant of any kind.”

Any expulsion order for a student would have to come from the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education, he said. The girls involved were inspired to ingest the drugs from viewing videos on YouTube of children getting high and filming their “trips” on the medicine, he said.

Coricidin, which contains dextromethorphan, produces hallucinations in large doses but is not among the controlled substances held in locked compartments in retail stores, he said.

Members of a student TV club at the school, who broadcast the daily announcements, are working on a video in journalism class on cold medicine abuse, he said.

Webb and his staff are producing a separate video on the effects of cold medicine overdoses and how social media promotes misusing them, he said.

The case of the three girls was the first one involving abuse of cold medicine on the grounds of Britton, although some other schools in Morgan Hill have reported similar cases, he said.

According to police, Coricidin is a legitimate treatment for colds, the common flu or upper respiratory allergies, however, overdoses can result in hospitalizations and death, according to police.

The medicine’s brand name also goes by street terms such as C-C-C, Cordies, Orange Crush, Red Devils, Skittles, DXM, Dex (for dextromethorphan), Vitamin D, Robo, Robo-trippin’, Candy and Robo-dosing, police said.

--Bay City News

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