Benzo Fury is a colorless stimulant that contains 5-APB or 6-APB compounds. It is sold in pellet or powder form via the Internet, and typically labelled “not for human consumption,” “plant food,” “bath salts,” or “research drug.”

Last month, a study of Benzo Fury was presented at a British Neuroscience Association conference in which experts say the active ingredient of the substance acts on the brain like both a stimulant and a hallucinogen — a combination that can make the drug dangerous to users.

“We have found that 5-APB behaves a little like amphetamine – that is, like a stimulant with addictive potential – and a bit like a hallucinogen, acting via serotonin receptors. This kind of mixed properties can be found in some illegal ‘designer’ drugs,” the presenting author, Dr. Jolanta Opacka-Juffry, said in a news release.

Dr. Opacka-Juffry  is a principal lecturer in neuroscience and director of the health sciences research centre at the University of Roehampton. The co-author of the research is Dr. Colin Davidson, a senior lecturer in neuropharmacology and expert in drugs of addiction at St George’s University of London.

Benzo Fury is now considered one of the most popular “legal highs” in the United Kingdom, and it’s also sold in the United States. Both Dr. Opacka-Juffry   and Dr. Davidson recommend further studies on the long-term effects of Benzo Fury because at this point no one really knows what the drug can do to users.

Dr. Opacka-Juffry, however,  cautioned that it’s “in the combination of these stimulant and hallucinogenic properties that the greatest danger lies.”

For those who do not know, codeine works by suppressing cough while  promethazine works by blocking the action of histamine to reduce symptoms of allergies, such as runny nose, sneezing or nausea. The use of codeine/ promethazine syrup must be supervised by a physician.

Codeine/promethazine syrup should not be taken by people who are allergic to codeine-related medicines or any ingredient in codeine/promethazine syrup. It is also not recommended for patients with severe drowsiness, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), sleep apnea, fever, diarrhea caused by food poisoning or antibiotic use, and productive cough. Additionally, pregnant women and patients with history of heart problems, low blood pressure, seizures, substance abuse, liver or kidney problems, and bladder problems  must share these conditions to their health care provider before taking codeine/promethazine syrup.

In general, codeine/promethazine syrup is a safe medication as long as it is taken according to a doctor’s prescription. But like any other medicines, it has some side effects — the most common are dizziness; drowsiness; constipation; headache; blurred vision; and dry mouth, throat, or nose.

When taken in large amounts or combined with alcoholic drinks for recreational use, codeine/promethazine syrup  may trigger more dangerous impact, such as confusion, hallucinations, irregular heartbeat, tightness in the chest, seizures, tremors, and uncontrolled muscle movements.

People who abuse prescription painkillers get drugs from a variety of sources. But among the most common include obtaining the drugs for free from friends or relatives, and through doctor’s prescription.

Initially, a person would ingest Rx medicines to achieve a feeling of euphoria. But the habit can eventually lead to addiction wherein a person will start taking larger doses which can cause breathing to slow down — so much that breathing stops and result to a fatal overdose.

In 2008, prescription painkillers were involved in 14,800 overdose deaths, exceeding the death toll for cocaine and heroin combined. In 2009, the misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers resulted to more than 475,000 emergency department visits, a number that almost doubled in just five years.

To heighten people’s awareness on the dangers of prescription drug abuse, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in conjunction with PBS News, put together a list of things you should know to help fight the recreational use of prescription medicines.

1. Drug overdoses now kill more Americans than motor vehicle crashes.

2. Enough painkillers were prescribed in 2010 to medicate each American adult every four hours for one month.

3. Deaths from prescription painkillers have reached epidemic levels in the past decade.

4. Roughly 1 in 20 people in the U.S. reported using prescription painkillers for non-medical reasons in the past year.

5. You can help prevent prescription drug overdoses.

6. The prescription drug overdose epidemic can be stopped through effective public health interventions.

7. States can start or improve prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) and use Patient Review and Restriction (PRR) programs.

8. States can enforce policies aimed at reducing drug diversion, abuse, and overdose.

9. States and communities can enhance access to substance abuse treatment.

10. Health care providers should use evidence-based clinical guidelines and practices to promote safe and effective use of prescription painkillers.

The drug prohibition policies in the United States traces its roots back in 1914, but the term “war on drugs” was popularized in 1971 upon the declaration of then-president Richard Nixon. The goal of Nixon’s anti-drug campaign was to increase the size and presence of federal drug control agencies.

More than 40 years later, however, it appears that the number of people using and misusing banned substances are increasing, not to mention the emergence of newer substances that are getting kids “high” and sending some of them to emergency rooms for treatment.

Marijuana is still considered the most commonly abuse drugs in the U.S. with roughly 100 million Americans admitting to trying the drug at least once, according to the Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.

Last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a report suggesting that one marijuana arrest happens every 42 seconds.

After marijuana there’s prescription drug abuse which is getting a lot of attention lately because of the increasing number of teens experimenting on them. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), prescription drug misuse remains a top public health concern in the United States, with approximately 22 million people initiating nonmedical use of pain relievers since 2002. The figure was based from the combined 2010 and 2011 data indicating that rates of past year misuse among those aged 12 or older.

Among the states with the highest rates of nonmedical use of prescription drugs were Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.

Ritalin and Adderall, drugs commonly prescribed in people with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), were noted as among the top drivers in the increase of teen medicine abuse.

Given the growing rates of prescription drug abuse, drug manufacturers altered the formulation of OxyContin, another commonly abused Rx medicine, to prevent drug addicts from crushing and abusing it. However, this led to addicts turning to other prescription meds, as well as heroin.

In 2008, it is estimated that there were more than 200,000 current heroin users in the United States. Between 2008 and 2009, there had been an obvious increase in lifetime heroin injection use among 10th graders.

In its prescription form, fentanyl is known as Actiq, Duragesic, and Sublimaze. Street names for this potent synthetic opioid include Apache, China girl, China white, dance fever, friend, goodfella, jackpot, murder 8, Tango and Cash, and TNT.

Like other opiate drugs, fentanyl can be dangerous when used for recreational purposes. When mixed with street-sold heroin or cocaine, the effects can become even more harmful. Among the symptoms a fentanyl abuser may experience include dizziness, severe constipation, dry mouth, hives, vision problem, lethargy, headaches, depression, hallucinations, difficulty sleeping, shaking, swollen extremities, breathing difficulty, coma, tolerance, and addiction.

In 2009, emergency department visits associated with nonmedical use of fentanyl reached an estimated 20,945 — an 85 percent increase from the 11,211 ER visits in 2005, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN).

But fentanyl abuse is not only a problem in the United States. In Australia, a 2012 National Coroners Information System (NCIS) report found fentanyl abuse was a factor in at least 50 deaths since 2010. That figure didn’t include the 32 deaths linked to the drug that were still under investigation at the time the report was completed.

In Ontario, Canada, four overdoses of fentanyl were reported between 2008 and 2010.

Here are three of the most widely used performance-enhancing drugs and the risks they can bring to the user’s health.

Anabolic steroids
This is probably the most popular performance-enhancing drugs among athletes and teens. They are used to increase muscle mass and strength. Although they have approved medical uses, they are not recommended to boost athletic performance. Still, many athletes are using them as the easiest and fastest way of bulking up.

In men, the negative side effects of anabolic steroids include baldness, shrunken testicles, infertility, impotence, and prominent breasts. In women, the effects include developing deeper voice, enlarged clitoris, increased body hair, irregular periods, and baldness. Men and women who are into anabolic steroids are also at risk of severe acne, liver abnormalities and tumor, high blood pressure, drug dependence, depression, aggressive behaviors, and infectious diseases like HIV (usually acquired through drug injections).

Human Growth Hormone
This performance-enhancing drug is known to produce anabolic effect. Athletes use them to enhance muscle mass and performance. The drug can be obtained only by prescription and is administered by injection. Although it allows tired muscles to recover quicker, thereby allowing an athlete to train harder, it doesn’t guarantee better performance. Among the side effects of the drug include joint pain, muscle weakness, fluid retention, diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol level, and impaired sugar regulation. In addition, it could enlarge liver and kidneys which may lead to more serious health problems.

Erythropoietin (EPO)
Although commonly used to treat anemia in people with severe kidney disease, this drug is widely used by endurance athletes because of its effect on red blood cell production which gives athletes noticeable endurance boost. The procedure for EPO use, however, carry greater health risk in the sense that it increases the user’s risk for stroke, heart attack and pulmonary edema. Athletes who are blood doping are also more likely to experience seizures and hypertension. EPO injection must carried out with extreme caution, as the blood can be difficult to store and administer.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug fatalities increased 3 percent in 2010. Preliminary data for 2011 indicate the figure keeps adding up.

CDC researchers found prescription painkillers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, as top drivers for the increasing drug deaths. The numbers were a disappointment for public health officials, who had expressed hope that educational and enforcement programs would stem the rise in fatal overdoses, the Los Angeles Time reports.

“While most things are getting better in the health world, this isn’t,” CDC director Tom Frieden said in an interview. “It’s a big problem, and it’s getting worse. The data supporting long-term use of opiates for pain, other than cancer pain, is scant to nonexistent. These are dangerous drugs. They’re not proven to have long-term benefit for non-cancer pain, and they’re being used to the detriment to hundreds of thousands of people in this country.”

Frieden added there are some promising tools which can help combat the problem. One of them  is the use of computerized drug monitoring programs by health care professionals.

In California, there’s the prescription drug monitoring program known as CURES but officials are not proactively using it to identify people who “doctor shop” or physicians who over-prescribe medicines.

Gil Kerlikowske, President Obama’s drug czar, echoed Frieden’s call for aggressive monitoring by state medical boards. He agrees that medical practitioners should be more proactive in fighting prescription drug abuse by utilizing state drug monitoring database instead of just waiting for someone to complain.

Tammy Walsh, who has a son in recovery from OTC medicine abuse, has come forward to use her experiences to help others. Welsh hopes to be an inspiration so people stand up and speak out about OTC abuse. A group called, The Five Moms, is the group that Welsh advocates for. They travel the country making people and parents aware of the risks and dangers of OTC drug abuse. They teach entire communities about abusing cough medicine, how parents should approach their teens, how to monitor medications, and the true scope of the problem.

Welsh says the most important things for parents to remember is never to lecture teens as they will tune you out. Rather help them make healthy decisions. Start talking to kids early on and don’t be afraid to bring the subject up. Teach your kids how to say no and give them every tool needed to do so. Be clear about the health risks associated with drug abuse.

Welsh says that parents must know how to spot the signs of abuse. They need to know what to look for, some of the slang, and a change in habits or patterns.

Teens call the act of abusing over the counter drugs “robotripping” or “skittling” and some teens actively look for substances they can use to get high in the medicine cabinets of their homes where adults just see medicine that is virtually harmless. Many teens today are abusing these very drugs. They can be addictive and dangerous if abused.

A study from 2012, out of the University of Cincinnati indicated that ten percent of middle and high school students had said that they have abused over-the-counter drugs. The most commonly abused OTC drugs included Dextromethorphan, which is found in cough syrups and decongestants.

When children are taught about substance abuse dangers the conversation must include a lot more than just discussing illicit drugs, prescription drugs, and alcohol. Children really need to know that a plethora of trouble lurks right in their medicine cabinet at home. In fact, while parents are putting a lock on the liquor cabinet they should also be putting one on the medicine cabinet too.

Drugfree.org says that when parents teach their children about the risks of OTC drugs they are half as likely to use them.

This article was contributed by Klean Treatment Center.

First of all, since when exactly did sizzurp become a favorite drink among the youth? Why should parents worry about it?

Robert Earl Davis Jr., a Houston disc jockey known as DJ Screw, was said to be the one who popularized the concoction of cough syrup and softdrink in the late 1990s. Many a time, hip hop musicians have rapped about the drink. Among those rappers who referenced the mixture in their lyrics include D12, Eminem, Lil’ Wyne, Big Moe, Lil’ Wayne, Ludacris, Slim Thug, Mack Maine, and Fat Joe.

Lil’ Wayne in particular has openly acknowledged his fondness for purple drank. In the music video Duffle Bag Boy, he was featured holding a Styrofoam cup with “RIP DJ Screw” written on it.

The mere mention of sizzurp in music has augmented its popularity, leading up to the awareness of some teenagers and young adults across the country.

In concocting sizzurp, users typically mix an ounce of cough syrup — containing codeine and promethazine — with Sprite or Mountain Dew and dissolved Jolly Rancher candy for extra sweetness, and pour it over ice. The drink is known to give users the euphoric high. However, other side effects include motor-skill impairment, lethargy, nausea, drowsiness, hallucinations, seizures, and even death.

In fact, some notable deaths linked with codeine overdose include that of DJ Screw in 2000; Big Moe, a DJ Screw protégé, in 2007; and Pimp C, a Texas rapper and a member of rap duo UGK, in 2008.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had warned people about the rising trend of cough syrup abuse. Although it is unclear as to how many people are drinking sizzurp, numerous health experts and the law enforcement are cautioning people about the fatal effect of cough syrup misuse.

So what is this sizzurp thing that could make someone fall in critical condition?

Sizzurp is known in a variety of street names, such as purple drank, syrup, purple jelly, and lean. It’s a narcotic concoction of prescription-strength cough syrup containing codeine and promethazine.

Dr. George Fallieras, an emergency room physician and hospitalist at Good Samaritan Hospital, told Los Angeles Times that the codeine ingredient in cough syrup serves as a pain reliever and also suppresses coughing, while promethazine  is used as an antihistamine and commonly used to treat motion sickness and nausea. The codeine and promethazine contents in cough syrup are generally safe when taken in appropriately prescribed quantities, but when taken in very large amounts can cause people to stop breathing.

“A lot of times these guys are not just drinking the purple drink, they’re also drinking alcohol,” Fallieras said. “And potentially in combination with alcohol and other drugs — all of these together can be a lethal cocktail.”

Fallieras added that codeine is an opiate, the same family of drugs as heroin and morphine, and can be very addictive in high doses. Meanwhile, promethazine has at least anecdotally been noted to intensify the euphoric effects of codeine in the brain.

“There’s a misconception that codeine is a weaker formula of the same class of medicine [as heroin],” Fallieras said. “But the amount of codeine these guys ingest with the syrup is massive … it’s just the same as someone being addicted to heroin, except they’re not using needles.”

Lil Wayne wasn’t the first to have been reported of feeling badly ill after taking sizzurp. With its popularity in the hip hop culture, the concoction was blamed or suspected to have caused the deaths of several prominent users. In Nov. 2000, Texas-based DJ Screw, who popularized the codeine-based drink, died of a codeine-promethazine-alcohol overdose. In 2007, American rapper Pimp C was found dead in a Los Angeles hotel room after suffering from respiratory depression due to an overdose of promethazine and codeine coupled with a preexisting sleep apnea condition.