ABC News story exposes startling DXM abuse among tween demographic

Dec. 5, 2006 — Misty Fetko, a mother of two teenagers, got up early to walk the dog before she roused her boys from bed one summer day in 2003. Her eldest, Carl, a gifted guitar player and award-winning artist at his Ohio high school, never woke up.

"His friends told me his smile made their day," Fetko said of her 18-year-old, who had just been accepted to Memphis College of Art.

In the past, she had found empty bottles of Robitussin in their suburban New Albany home, but she had no idea Carl had a 2 and half year drug habit. Fetko's skills as an emergency room nurse were of no use when she entered Carl's bedroom and administered CPR. She discovered he had died in his sleep of an accidental overdose of the cough syrup Robitussin.

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