School children ‘overdosing on cough medicine’

Scores of American schoolchildren are risking their lives by deliberately overdosing on off-the-shelf cough medicines in search of a drugs high, health experts have warned.

Children as young as 12 are gulping down the liquid in search of hallucinations, loss of co-ordination or “out-of-body” experiences.

The craze has led to at least five deaths in recent months and dozens of youngsters have ended up dangerously ill in hospital, doctors said.