TEENS OVERDOSE ON PRESCRIPTION PILLS AT DANCE.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Teen-agers, gobbling pills with both hands, overdosed on prescription muscle relaxants Muscle Relaxants Definition Skeletal muscle relaxants are drugs that relax striated muscles (those that control the skeleton). They are a separate class of drugs from the muscle relaxant drugs used during intubations and surgery to reduce the need for at a dance meant to keep them off the streets. Thirteen were in hospitals Saturday, including 10 in critical condition. ``They were dropping like flies,'' Officer Robert Giannotti said, when police and ambulances arrived at the Boys & Girls Club late Friday in Woburn, nine miles northwest of Boston. Most of the victims were girls 13 to 16, celebrating their selection for the cheerleading The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. squad, said Dr. Michael Shannon, treating eight of the youths at Children's Hospital in Boston. He said their prognosis was good. The teens had taken the prescription muscle relaxant muscle relaxant an agent that specifically aids in reducing muscle tone. Most such agents inhibit the transmission of nerve impulses at the somatic neuromuscular junctions. They include tubocurarine, gallamine, pancuronium, succinylcholine and decamethonium bromide. Baclofen and washed the pills down with water, soft drinks and beer, Shannon said. Authorities were called when two teen-agers were discovered unconscious on a couch, witnesses said. Chaperones initially believed they were asleep. ``I saw a lot of people collapse. Some were foaming at the mouth,'' said Steven Scalesse, a 15-year-old Kennedy Middle School Kennedy Middle School can mean at least two things:
``A lot of people (were) passing out and vomiting and everything,'' said Tim Carr, who also attended the dance. ``Then they couldn't wake them up. They all looked in bad shape.'' The drug often is used for treating cerebral palsy cerebral palsy (sərē`brəl pôl`zē), disability caused by brain damage before or during birth or in the first years, resulting in a loss of voluntary muscular control and coordination. and multiple sclerosis, normally in doses of one or two pills, Shannon said. Slightly higher doses can lead to euphoria or intoxication intoxication, condition of body tissue affected by a poisonous substance. Poisonous materials, or toxins, are to be found in heavy metals such as lead and mercury, in drugs, in chemicals such as alcohol and carbon tetrachloride, in gases such as carbon monoxide, and and large doses can shut down the lungs and cause death, he said. Shannon said a victim he spoke with had taken about seven pills and told him others had taken as many as 35. At least two of the teens who went home from the dance would have died in their beds had their parents not been called by officials worried they had taken the drug, Middlesex County District Attorney Tom Reilly said. Their parents woke them up and took them to hospitals. ``Obviously, these kids didn't know what they were in for,'' Reilly said. Several students said the pills were brought by a girl who attended the dance and also became sick. Police said they know who handed out the pills, but would not disclose the name. ``We found single pills under couches, in barrels, on top of Coke machines,'' said police Capt. Bill Magee. |
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