TEXAS, USA — A new law is now in play for Texans as of September 1.
The minimum age to buy a majority of over-the-counter cough medicines in Texas is now 18.
House Bill 1518 was passed this past legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in May.
“The cough medication is Dextromethorphan, DM for short. So any cough medication that has DM in it, is the cough medication that they tend to abuse," said pharmacist Julio Castillo.
You won't find that ingredient in cough drops, but it’s in popular cough syrup medicines like NyQuil and Robitussin.
“It was starting to be abused by teenagers and kiddos younger than the age of 18 so just to protect them from the abuse," said Castillo.
But how are they abusing it?
“Just taking larger amounts of the medication and excess amounts of the medication causes them to hallucinate, causes a euphoria effect, so it cause a mild high. So that’s why they were taking it," said Castillo.
Pharmacist Castillo says he’s all for it, even though it hasn’t particularly been a problem at his shop..
“It’s similar like what they did with the cigarettes, you know they made it a little harder to get a hold of them. Kind of like the alcohol, they raised the age from 18 to 21. They’re always going to find a way to get it but at least it makes it a little harder," said Castillo.
If you’re checking out with cough medicine that has DM in it, and you appear to be a minor, you will now be carded.
“They’ll have to bring their parents, they can actually see a doctor for it, a doctor can actually give them a prescription for the ," said Castillo.