Chicago ? Emergency room physicians and other health care professionals are reporting a sharp increase in teens abusing nonprescription cough and cold medicines, which are back in vogue as recreational drugs because the products are both accessible and easier to take than ever before.

Users call it “skittles” or “robo-tripping” to describe its hallucinogenic effects, similar to PCP.

Medical personnel are calling it “an epidemic.”

The latest concerns have caused some large drugstore chains to limit purchases or move the product off the shelves. But the efforts don’t go far enough, say many critics, who are urging that all such products be sold strictly from behind — not over — the counter.

“It’s not illegal to purchase. It’s not even illegal to take in large quantities. It’s just dangerous and foolish, and that is what is scaring everybody,” said Dr. Charles Nozicka, director of pediatric emergency medicine at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Nozicka estimates he has seen about 30 cold medicine-related overdoses in the last year.

While students have been guzzling cough syrup for years, this is a relatively new phenomenon. Sweet syrups would contain ingredients that cause vomiting before reaching doses large enough to hallucinate. Tablets don’t have that effect.

PCP-like effects

The key ingredient is DXM, a cough suppressant that replaced opiates in the 1970s and can be found in more than 120 products, all safe when used as directed. But taking DXM in large quantities can cause slurred speech, tremors, seizures and even death.

Because the product is at every pharmacy, the dangers are easy to dismiss, said experts.

While no national agency tracks fatalities, at least five have been attributed to cold medicines during the last year, including one in September at Illinois State University.

More indicative of a growing problem: U.S. poison-control centers logged some 3,200 calls related to the substance in 2003 — twice the number as in 2001.

“It wasn’t something we really noticed before 2001,” said Dr. Michael Wahl, medical director of the Illinois Poison Center.

Parents out of the loop

To raise awareness, the Chicago office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued a parental advisory in early February, citing a “recent escalation” in area DXM abuse.

In addition, the American Medical Assn. voted in December to pursue national restrictions on the products.

Dr. Tim Erickson, director of clinical toxicology at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago, realized that this was quickly becoming the drug of choice when he searched for Coricidin to bring to a conference and found stores were cleaned out.

“The word is out,” Erickson said. “It has totally permeated the adolescent population — especially in the suburbs.”

But adults, as is often the case, aren’t always aware of the problem.

“Kids can abuse a long time before adults suspect a problem, said Dr. Louis Kraus, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center, who brought the issue to the AMA conference in December.