FORT MYERS, Fla. A well-known anti-diarrhea medicine is being used to help produce a heroin-like high.
The misuse of Imodium, an over-the-counter drug, has become a growing trend, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which issued a warning for physicians in 2016.
A massive intake of loperamide, the primary ingredient in Imodium and other anti-diarrhea drugs, is believed to give a euphoric high, according to the FDA.
Taking a higher dosage than recommended can result in serious and potentially deadly heart problems, the FDA said.
Recommended doses of Imodium are between 8 to 16 milligrams per day but abusers are taking nearly 300 milligrams at once, according to a CBS news report.
Poison control centers have experienced a 71 percent increase in calls between 2011 and 2014 that involve loperamide, according to a CBS news report.
Two bills currently in the Florida legislature will be considered in a state legislative session that would crack down on opioid trafficking and deceptive advertising of sober homes, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The first bill would add fentanyl, a synthetic opiate, to Florida’s drug- trafficking statute. Any trafficking of the drug would result in a first-degree murder charge in cases where the buyer dies from an overdose, according to the Sun Sentinel. The second bill would allow government agencies to regulate sober homes.