Abuse of "BRON": a Japanese OTC cough suppressant solution containing methylephedrine, codeine, caffeine and...

1. The paper describes the mental disturbances of 44 abusive cases of "BRON," an over-the-counter (OTC) cough suppressant solution containing methylephedrine, codeine, caffeine, and chlorpheniramine. 2. Major psychiatric symptoms observed included hallucinatory-paranoid state and affective disorder. There also were groups which exhibited a combination of the two states and abuse only. 3. The hallucinatory-paranoid state group had a relatively small BRON usage amount, short usage term and few withdrawal symptoms. The affective disorder group, in contrast, had large usage amount, longer usage term, and showed significant autonomic nerve disorders during withdrawal. These tendencies were seen more clearly in the mixed state group. 4. The hallucinatory-paranoid state group showed little or no physical dependence, while that of the affective disorder group was thought to be firmly established. Thus, in the former group, methylephedrine was considered the major behavior modifying drug, while in the latter, it was thought to be codeine.