DeWine on Wednesday signed the legislation, also known as House Bill 9, that was sponsored by Springfield Republican state Rep. Kyle Koehler.
The idea behind the bill is to limit access to that type of medication due to concerns of minors mixing it with alcohol and sugary drinks to obtain a hallucinogenic-type buzz.
“Industries that produce dextromethorphan have been asking the Ohio legislature to pass this bill for over seven years,” Koehler said in a news release on Wednesday.
He also noted that 22 other states have already adopted similar legislation and that the bill was supported by the Ohio State Medical Association, Nationwide Children’s Hospital American Academy of Pediatrics and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association.
“House Bill 9 will serve a dual purpose. First, it will help keep this product out of the hands of young teens on a Friday or Saturday night. Second, it will act as an educational tool for parents, as it might set off an alarm as to why their child keeps taking so much cough medicine out of the cabinet,” Koehler added.
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