SYRUP JUNKIES

EXCLUSIVE Mum warns of shocking teen cough medicine addicts

A FRIGHTENED Gold Coast mother wants pharmacies to stop selling a powerful cough syrup to her addicted son, fearing he could die.

Its rampant usage across the city has some local pharmacists keeping a concerned eye on mostly desperate teenage customers who are chasing a cheap high and can buy the over-thecounter product to mix in potentially dangerous concoctions.

A DESPERATE Gold Coast mother wants pharmacies to stop selling her junkie teenage son a powerful cough medicine before the “inevitable” happens and she finds him dead.

The single mother-of-four says her 17-year-old has become addicted to Rikodeine – a cough syrup available over the counter at chemists – and can “barely speak” or “stand” after using it every night.

The woman said her son was one of “many” drinking cough syrup, mixed with soft drink and prescription drugs, for a cheap high.

“His friends’ parents are all going through the same thing,” she said.

The mother urged other parents to be mindful if their children starting asking them to buy the medicine for them.

She said her son began taking the dangerous cocktail – known as “lean” – about four months ago and now used it every night, often mixing it with marijuana.

“At first I thought he was just mixing cordial with fizzy drink. I didn’t think anything of it,” she said.

“I’m going to go (into his room) one day and he will be dead. It’s devastating but it’s not going to shock me. It’s inevitable.

“Every night he just wipes himself out. He can barely speak. He can’t even stand up. He passes out every night with food all over him, ants crawling on him.

“I’ve slapped him so hard that I thought he was dead and he just looked at me and went back to sleep.”

The teen – who lives with his mother and three sisters, the youngest of whom is eight – even tried to trick his mother into buying it for him by faking a cough and begging for medication before pharmacy staff alerted her to the ruse.

“He’s also asked his grandmother for (prescription drugs). He’ll make up an excuse for why he needs it.”

His mother said she had tried but failed to stop him.

“I’ve collected bottles to take to the police, but he keeps coming home with more,” she said.

“He lost his mind when I wouldn’t give it to him. He started throwing furniture. He had wanted to take it out with him for the night.

“It’s like Jekyll and Hyde. When he doesn’t have any we deal with the fallout of that because he gets so angry he’s punching holes in the walls, destroying the house.

“We’re always walking on eggshells.

“He knows it’s killing his insides. He’s feeling the pain now, but he just can’t help himself, he can’t stop.”

The mum said her son was regularly in trouble with the police and she had begged, unsuccessfully, for court-appointed rehabilitation after the boy started stealing from the family.

She said it was devastating to see him turn into a junkie.

“He’s had a couple of good jobs and when he’s been working he hasn’t had time to cause trouble or drink or do drugs,” she said.

“He wanted to go into a trade but he fell in with the wrong group.

“These American rappers have made (cough syrup) cool and quite a few have died from it, and now our idiot children are emulating them.”

The mum is now pushing for the product to be restricted to prescription-only.

“If these kids have to go to the doctor each time they want a bottle many won’t bother,” she said.

“Keeping a register of who is asking for a script and how often will stop some of them from using it.

“It needs to happen.”