Student's Drug Warning Bill Signed

Capitol Classroom Success Story: 2014 Evergreen High School Students and Dextromethorphan

In 2014, Capitol Classroom students from Evergreen High School supported a bill that would establish label warning requirements for dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in many cough medicines. Some kids had discovered they could get high if they chugged an entire bottle of cough medicine containing the ingredient. Capitol Classroom students at Evergreen High School supported a bill to create warning labels on cold medicines containing dextromethorphan. Steve Lindstrom represented them as their volunteer lobbyist. You can see their efforts here: .

During the session, the bill got stuck in the Senate Rules Committee. This is the place where many bills go to die. Through the lobbying efforts of the students, the bill was pulled from Senate Rules, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Inslee.In the proclamation for the bill, Governor Inslee stated that Capitol Classroom students from Evergreen High School were “instrumental to the passage of SHB 2163 and have helped ensure the Healthiest Next Generation.” The picture on the right is a bottle of cough syrup containing dextromethorphan, pulled from a local Safeway shelf, with a new warning label to parents designed to prevent abuse of the medicine; tangible evidence of Evergreen High School's 2014 Capitol Classroom efforts. Congratulations students! Compiled and written by David Johnson, TVW Director of Education Resources