Have you ever gone to Wal-Mart and tried to get a simple cough or allergy medication that required you to jump through hoops to buy it? That's a way for them to make sure you aren't peddling drugs and turning into narcotics. It would be a shame if something like that happened to simple cold medicine.

The reason I pose that scenario is because there's some news out that reveals a scary statistic. Over 3 million teenagers and young adults have used cough and cold medication to get high. The abuse stems from using DXM, which is a suppressant found in 140+ medications. Needless to say, with numbers like these they obviously didn't need a prescription to get it.

According to the article, side effects of taking too much can include disorientation, blurred vision, slurred speech and vomiting. Who would want to sign up for that treatment? Apparently some of the same 12 to 25 year-olds who use marijuana, since over 80 percent surveyed experimented with that stuff too. It's going to be interesting to see the reaction to this, and if any regulation comes from it.