 | |
| Type | Polysubstance drink |
|---|---|
| Origin | Southern United States |
| Introduced | 1960s |
| Colour | Purple, red, green, or yellow; varies based on cough syrup brand and soda mixer |
| Ingredients | Opioidcough syrup,soft drink |
| Related products | Dextromethorphan syrup |
Lean orpurple drank (known bynumerous local and street names) is apolysubstance drink used as arecreational drug. It is prepared by mixingprescription-gradecough or cold syrup containing anopioid drug and anantihistamine drug with asoft drink and sometimeshard candy. The beverage originated inHouston as early as the 1960s and is popular inhip hop culture, especially within theSouthern United States.[1]Codeine/promethazine syrup is usually used to make lean, but other syrups are also used.
Users of lean are at risk ofaddiction, and serious complications includerespiratory depression,respiratory arrest, andcardiac arrest. Lean isespecially dangerous when consumed with alcohol.
The termlean refers to the tendency for users to havedifficulty standing up straight while under the influence of the drug.[2] "Purple drank" references its typicallypurple hue, as the cough syrups employed are often purple in color, and anAfrican-American Vernacular English term for an alcoholic beverage orintoxicating drink. Other names include "syrup/sizzurp", "surp/zurp", "jelly", "Tussin/Tuss'", "Barre", "Wock'", "Act'", "Texas tea", "mud", "dirty Sprite", and "tsikuni".[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In areas where lean had not yet been introduced, codeine-based cough syrup mixed with pills was called "juice and beans".[10] Lean is also sometimes referred to by its color in slang, usually purple (or "purp'"), but can also be red, green, or yellow based on the ingredients used.[citation needed]
Typically, the base for lean is a strongprescriptioncold medicine, specifically cough syrup that contains bothpromethazine andcodeine. Other preparations usecodeine/guaifenasin,hydrocodone/chlorphenamine,hydrocodone/APAP, andhydrocodone/homatropine.Over-the-counter cold medicines that containdextromethorphan (often paired withguaifenasin oracetaminophen) as the active ingredient have also been used, as they do not require acquiring a prescription.[11][12]
To create a drinkable mixture, the cough syrup is combined with soft drinks, especially fruit-flavored drinks such asSprite,Mountain Dew, orFanta, and is often served infoam cups.[13][14] Ahard candy, usually aJolly Rancher, may be added to give the mixture a sweeter flavor.[1] Masking the undesired taste may impair judgment of thepotency, which is a factor inoverdosing.[citation needed]
Lean produces mild "euphoric side effects" accompanied by "motor-skill impairment, lethargy, drowsiness, and a dissociative feeling from all other parts of the body."[14] It has been suggested[by whom?] that the super-sweet combination of soda, cough syrup, and Jolly Ranchers provides a pleasing flavor andmouthfeel that lingers on the user's tongue for an extended duration. This phenomenon is often appealing to first-time users.[15] Lean is often used in combination withalcohol and/or other drugs.[14]
When taken in prescribed quantities, codeine-promethazine is quite safe,[16] but dangers arise in higher doses since promethazine is a depressant of thecentral nervous system (CNS), and codeine is arespiratory depressant. When codeine is taken in very large amounts, it can cause one to stop breathing.[16] Using alcohol and other drugs alongside lean increases the chance of respiratory depression.[16] It seems that the concoction does not causeseizures itself, but increases their likelihood in those susceptible to them.[16] The drink includes a massive amount of the opiate codeine, and it has been suggested that promethazine may heighten the euphoric effects of codeine.[16]
The addictive nature of the drink means that trying to discontinue regular usage can bring about symptoms of withdrawal.[16] In a 2008 interview withMTV News,Lil Wayne described the withdrawal as feeling "like death in your stomach when you stop. Everybody wants me to stop all this and all that. It ain't that easy."[17]
Respiratory depression is a potentially serious or fatal adverse drug reaction associated with the use of codeine, but mainly the danger lies in the much more potent and CNS-depressingphenothiazine-related antihistamine promethazine. This depression is dose-related and is the mechanism for the potentially fatal consequences of overdose:respiratory orcardiac arrest. As with most CNS depressants, mixing with alcohol greatly increases the risk of respiratory failure and other complications.[18]
Lean is thought to have developed inHouston around the 1960s, whenblues musicians would takeRobitussin and cut it withbeer. Later, whenwine coolers came onto the market, they substituted for beer.[15] These blues musicians lived in Houston'sFifth Ward,Third Ward, andSouth Park neighborhoods and the practice was taken up by the generation of rappers growing up in the same parts of the city.[15] In the 1980s and 1990s the formula changed to using codeine promethazine cough syrup, somewhat like theglutethimide and codeine combination that was popular from the 1970s up to the early 1990s.[15] Codeine-based cough syrups were also turned to as an alternative topentazocine/tripelennamine ("T's and blues") after the pharmaceutical industry addednaloxone to its constituent drugs, effectively blocking their potential for abuse.[10]
Lean remained a local phenomenon in Houston until the 1990s, when the American rapperDJ Screw released several tunes mentioning the drink in hismixtapes, which were extremely popular in the Houston area.[15] DJ Screw's music was particularly appropriate for Houston's climate. Due to the heat and expanse of the Houston area residents spent long drives in their cars, "the music that most appropriately complements that has always been the music of DJ Screw, it's slowed down—and when I say slowed down I mean he would record sessions in his apartment with rappersfreestyling over beats and he would make these big mixtapes and then he would actually slow them down even further on his cassette recorder."[15] DJ Screw's invoking lean in his lyrics and his use of slow tempos had caused his style to be characterized "[a]s if the song itself has taken too much codeine promethazine".[15] Rappers far beyond Houston would come to adopt aspects of DJ Screw's unique style, but not before he died of a codeine overdose in 2000.[19]
Houston producer DJ Screw popularized the concoction, which is widely attributed as a source of inspiration for thechopped-and-screwed style ofhip hop music.[21][22] The promethazine and codeine concoction first gained popularity in the underground hip hop scene in Houston,[22] where musicianBig Hawk said it was consumed as early as the 1960s and 1970s, becoming more widely used in the early 1990s.[23] Because of usage by rap artists in Houston, it became more popular in the 1990s.[24] Its use later spread toother States in the South.[21] In June 2000,Three 6 Mafia's single "Sippin' on Some Syrup", featuringUGK, brought the termpurple drank to a nationwide audience.[25]
In 2004, theUniversity of Texas at Austin found that 8.3% ofsecondary school students inTexas had taken codeine syrup to get high.[21] TheDrug Enforcement Administration reports busts involving syrup across the Southern United States, particularly inTexas andFlorida.[21] As of 2011, the price of lean in Houston was twice the price it is inLos Angeles.[24]
In a 2019 interview, American rapperFuture spoke about quitting lean and stated that he was afraid that his fans would believe his music has changed if he had publicly admitted to quitting earlier.[20] Future expressed disappointment after American rapperJuice Wrld told him that he was influenced by his music to try lean when he was young. Future stated "It's like, 'Oh shit.' How many other sixth-graders did I influence to drink lean?"[20] The two artists had released a collaborative mixtape titledWrld on Drugs in October 2018.[20]Lil Nas X's hit song "Old Town Road" includes the line "Lean all in my bladder", though Lil Nas X has stated he does not endorse the drug.[26]
DJ Screw, who popularized the codeine-based drink, died of a codeine–promethazine, Valium, and PCP overdose on November 16, 2000, several months after the video ofThree 6 Mafia's single debuted.[27]
Big Moe, a DJ Screw protégé whose albumsCity of Syrup andPurple World were based on the drink and who has been described as having "rapped obsessively about the drug",[28] died at age 33 on October 14, 2007, after suffering aheart attack one week earlier that left him in acoma.[29] There was speculation that lean may have contributed to his death.[30][31]
Pimp C, a widely influential rapper fromPort Arthur, Texas and member of the rap duoUGK, was found dead on December 4, 2007, at theMondrian Hotel inWest Hollywood, California. TheLos Angeles County Coroner's Office reported that the rapper's death was "due to promethazine-codeine effects and other unestablished factors." Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Coroner's Office, said the levels of the medication were elevated, but not enough to deem the death an overdose. However, Pimp C had a history ofsleep apnea, a condition that causes one to stop breathing for short periods during sleep. A spokesman for the coroner's office said that the combination of sleep apnea and cough medication probably suppressed Pimp C's breathing long enough to bring on his death.[32][28]
Fredo Santana, an American rapper who frequently made references to the drink in his music, died of a seizure on January 19, 2018. According to TMZ, he had been suffering from liver and kidney problems, which were believed to be the result of his addiction.[33]
In September 2006,Terrence Kiel, aSan Diego Chargers player, was arrested during practice for the possession with intent to sell prescription cough syrup for use in making the drink.[21] Kiel was caught trying to ship a case of syrup to a friend viaFedEx. Kiel was charged with two felony counts of transporting a controlled substance and three counts of possession for sale of a controlled substance.[34]
On July 8, 2008,Johnny Jolly, aGreen Bay Packers player, was pulled over in his car by the police for playing excessively loud music in a nightclub parking lot. The officers found aDr Pepper bottle in a holder next to two Styrofoam cups containing soda and ice.[35] The case was dismissed,[36] but charges were refiled in December 2009 after the Houston Police Department acquired new equipment that allowed the police to test the evidence again. Jolly faced a possible maximum sentence of up to 20 years in jail, but as a first time offender he would be eligible forprobation.[37]
On July 5, 2010, formerOakland Raiders quarterbackJaMarcus Russell was arrested at his home inMobile, Alabama, for possession of codeine syrup without a prescription. He was arrested as part of an undercover narcotics investigation. Russell was booked into city jail and released soon afterwards after making his bail.[38]
On June 11, 2013, just days after being robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco, rapper2 Chainz was arrested atLos Angeles International Airport on charges of possessing promethazine and codeine (the primary ingredients of lean) along withmarijuana.[39]
Mac Miller, who died of a drug overdose not involving lean, spoke openly of his addiction to lean.[40]
On April 7, 2015, Swedish rapperYung Lean, while living inMiami Beach, Florida, and recording his second studio albumWarlord, was hospitalized atMount Sinai Medical Center due to an overdose stemming from an addiction toXanax,cocaine, and lean.[41]
On December 8, 2019, American rapperJuice WRLD died from acutecodeine andoxycodone poisoning, just six days after turning 21.[42]
Several legal commercial products loosely based on the concept of "purple drank" are marketed in the United States. In June 2008, Innovative Beverage Group, a Houston, Texas-based company, released a beverage called "Drank". The commercial product contains no codeine or promethazine, but claims to "Slow Your Roll" with a combination of herbal ingredients such asvalerian root and rose hips as well as the hormonemelatonin.[43][44]Similar "anti-energy" orrelaxation drinks on the commercial market use the names "Purple Stuff", "Sippin Syrup", and "Lean".[45][46][47]
These commercial products have been criticized for their potential to serve asgateways to the dangerous illegal concoction.[46][47][48] The marketing push has been described as akin to the making ofcandy cigarettes.[48]
