Westchester bans minors from buying cough syrup

A new law goes into effect Thursday in Westchester County that bans the sale of some cough medicine to anyone under the age of 18. The law comes after Anthony Vieiro, of Yonkers, died in 2007 when his

News 12 Staff

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Dec 12, 2008, 2:25 AM

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Updated 5,789 days ago

A new law goes into effect Thursday in Westchester County that bans the sale of some cough medicine to anyone under the age of 18.

The law comes after Anthony Vieiro, of Yonkers, died in 2007 when his car was hit by 19-year-old Mohd Shreiqein, who was driving while abusing cough medicine containing dextromethorphan.

Dextromethorphan, also called DXM, can cause hallucination when taken in large quantities.

"It's really a terrible thing that young people take to get high," says Linda Vieiro-Minozzi, the victim's daughter.

Shreiqein pled guilty to criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Anthony Vieiro's death led county lawmakers to limit DXM's availability by prohibiting minors from buying any cough medicine containing the chemical.

Mike Altman, who owns Greenleaf Pharmacy in Hastings, says he doesn't know how effective the law will be.

"I don't know how many kids that are under 18, that are 13, 14, 15 years old are actually going in and buying it themselves. And the person driving the car was over 18."

To see more footage about the new law, go to Channel 612 on you iO digital cable box and select iO Extra.