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posting posts in my favorite posting sip
touch my lips i'm comatose in double up
my cup discover my lust you got my
attention but i don't think love is
enough daddy taught me stands hard but i
rather we lean tried to before i
was 17 so my lifestyle into a dream i
know it made me think less about the
and i see i know the that i
seen most people wouldn't believe it and
if i had the choice i would leave it
lean which is essentially a mild opiate
made from mixing codeine cough syrup
with sprite has always been popular in
the south but recently it's had a bit of
a resurgence also known as scissor dirty
sprite or purple drank lean is made by
mixing prescription-strength cough syrup
with soda and sometimes fruit flavored
candy the beverage has become
popularized in hip hop music over the
years with famous rappers featuring and
drinking lean in their music videos
which in turn has made it more popular
on social media where fans try to
imitate their favorite rap stars it's
really easy to overlook what a huge
effect this weird little purple
concoction has had on rap music but it's
changed rap music more than heroin
change rock music everything has become
more strung out slower and with that
strung out slower music there's also a
kind of strung out slower personality
that you see people who listen to this
music have and it's kind of like
everyone's sort of Tooting out a bit so
we're about to meet a rapper named
Cassie who raps about lean a lot
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when we first came to Florida I sort of
assumed that lien was a cheap easy to
get drug I mean it's basically
pharmaceutical cough syrup mixed with
sprite but now we've learned that
bottles go for the $3,000 I mean it's
this highly sought-after status symbol
and I'll be interesting to see whether
he actually does like lean or whether
for him it's just another part of the
image it I guess nobody dating me
standing there something night amongst
rappers and other people you know how
big is lean lean is big as
everybody sleeps lean or everybody wants
to sibling listen it all right once the
sibling acts like this sibling act like
they knows my discipline ass like they
could get lean but and what about
personally like what's your experience
with lean oh my lightning I got was like
me first time a sibling was with
click-clack was in the studio and I just
wanted to sit because like just like we
was i doing drugs every once a while and
stuff like that smoking do another
but yeah like we want a sibling in the
studio and we made music and it was five
foot and and and Elena's kind of it is
an opiate right yeah definitely a lot of
use in the hood and don't
know that it's a Hopi but then after a
while you drink so much then they want
us to take it hurts they may want to
start taking purposes and then they'll
know why they like the person I think it
tastes good yes some taste is good like
you would think for something to have
opiates and all that in there be
nasty yeah if you put that up some
spray a little cook yes off it
makes you feel good it makes you feel
like I do a great version here so yeah
and now we gonna pop
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what using is behind this recent upsurge
in people doing mean definitely rap
culture MC Texas really started that way
but now that we're in the age of social
media I feel like it's gotten a new leap
because you know it's like it's a cool
drug it's expensive it's hard to access
it's exclusive you know what's weird
about lien is like it's not have weed
right and you you could all have weed
nobody nobody's cooler if you got lien
in here most of us probably don't have
it so it's like is this a status you
know it's a Luisa prima Calabria legolas
house so even though liens having a bit
of a moment right now it's actually been
around since the 90s and to get a little
bit of historical context about how you
culture has changed you're gonna go meet
a guy called Abel he's a graffiti artist
who's tag is basically a giant stone cup
of lien but he's also kind of like the
world's leading lien aficionado
we're actually meant to meet with him
this morning we found out he was in jail
and should be heading back to his house
diamond why do you like lean so much I
don't know I guess I grew up with it I
don't know it's more like it's like my
childhood back in the days when
people couldn't afford to get on other
drugs we just skip to robitussin Berlin
when you're young and you just go
through your mom's medicine book the
around sack that nyquil
all night how do you get your name
I'm gonna prescribe and what what
condition is it meant to be treating
serious cough and bronchitis and all
sorts of okay do you actually have
serious coughing bronchitis yes
sometimes
well I'm smoking right yeah why does it
come in a double-cut people don't even
know that that so your hand doesn't
warm up the drink inside so you don't
know the ice is that's what it
originated for but people you started a
trend with it now everybody
holding a double cup so that
must feel really weird to see people
rapping about this and when for you is
just like the only drug you can take
because it was the cheapest yeah and
cuz I that prices
went up on everybody demand for lean is
so high these days that we've heard of
some dealers actually robbing pharmacies
at gunpoint just to get their hands on
it and we're actually heading to a trap
house right now to find out how they're
getting it and also why the demand has
been increasing so much so you sell the
full bottle by itself right yeah if they
money right we sell the whole bottle of
stuff I guess it is very expensive
otherwise you're selling out otherwise
we just break it down in measurements
like she could show you what's going on
right now three ounces right there so
you sell just a this errbody you mix the
drink for them from no I just saw the
syrup set up right so three ounces
just double cup oh is that a double Cup
it was that why is it always have to be
in a double Cup
that's just what it is that'll be in a
double Cup that's how you know you're
serious
so how much of this stuff can you sell
in a day if you got the right cartel
this whole ago people love this
it's the highest it's a hot commodity
right now this is four dollars a bottle
this brand right here this is the low
breath is it true that somebody will use
Instagram to sell it you know it's big
Instagram is a platform for you to sell
a lot of things back in the days when I
had no clientele I jumped on Instagram
yeah and used to DM people like y'all
have this I got that so yeah it was a
I feel like they use Instagram
more so to promote it as far as okay we
using it and this is how we feelin right
now this is the vibe we on we on that
mellow chill vibe we not snorunt cold
we're not doing heroin you know they're
promoting that we cool we buy them like
yeah have you noticed an increase in
young people specifically buying this
kids is listening to the music they
following all these big-time celebrities
a lot of kids are doing it
a lot of kids going on the soda and
candy and leaned masked the taste of the
coffee medicine which often contains the
powerful drugs promethazine and codeine
codeine is a highly addictive opioid and
when ingested in large amounts produces
feelings of euphoria alleviates tension
and anxiety and decreases aggression all
of which has contributed to liens
popularity over the years but prolonged
lean consumption can lead to dependence
an increased use of opioids and
potentially fatal overdoses
Emelia Villere is a prevention
specialist at the United Way of Broward
County and has been working as a drug
counselor in Florida since 2011 are you
going out to schools and giving talks in
schools currently yes drugs is very
prevalent in Florida we have a very
serious opioid epidemic going on right
now and it's killing two people a day to
be with a day so people in Florida yeah
in Broward County
you're just in Broward a day yeah and do
you see lean as one piece of that opioid
epidemic well you know lean has an
opioid in it yeah so and that's
something that people don't realize I
had kids who are testing positive for
opioids on the drug screens they were
like no I've never done that before and
I'm like pretty sure they had no idea
that they had an opiate in their body
and what effect does it have on their
lives when they're doing me if you're
high all the time you can't pass class
you're falling asleep in class and keeps
falling asleep in counseling sessions
like out they're out talking to them and
they're out and lean is not cheap it's a
very expensive so then they're stealing
to get the lean it's an addictive
substance people say that it's it's mild
well means not that serious it's mild
but what's the ratio of of promethazine
and codeine that you're using to your
sprite you don't know if you're taking a
sip from someone's cup you don't know
how much of of the medicine they put on
there versus a sprite so yeah you might
have a really potent white Styrofoam cup
with a lot of coating in there and you
don't know it so yeah that's gonna
create a higher addiction and you have
really good-looking rappers who's got
all the honey's he's got all the girls
you know and he's drinking this he's
always got a white fire foam cup in his
hand and he's on this then maybe if I do
that I'll get the hunt I'll get the
Lambo
I'll get the Maserati you know things of
that nature they're making that
association even if that associations
not really real
one of your lyrics says I think these
are amazing it says Dancing with demons
and goblins we don't see it cuz we too
entangled in the comments you won the
perks and the lien too much our
generation probably seeing too much
iPhone information overload it's being
too much God has disconnected with our
own self because we see a lot of people
through the screen
we don't do all we do is dream and
okay yeah do you worry that there's a
problem with our generation I mean
yeah like oh the reason I said
information overload and that thing is
because like we're in this age of like
consuming you know everybody's consuming
you know UK you're always on your
phone watching other people's lives
watching other people's and so you
we always are getting fed this like
false perception of reality and that's
where I think all the problems come
because then people feel more like empty
they don't they feel like they're
lacking you know all the times that's
why we use drugs and you know fake
on Instagram it's like all the same
thing you know a lot of people might say
that rappers are to blame for people
doing lean but is it is it really that
rappers are promoting a drug culture or
are you just reflecting address you know
generation I wouldn't say rappers are to
blame for anything because robbers we're
just people you know so if you listen to
the music ain't nobody saying hey go get
some bling a old another cook that um
they're talking about what they doing
I'm pulling a cook I'm sick for some
lean which I pulled a butt which if
we're gonna be honest though that's in a
way promoting because everybody want to
be like us but at the end of the day
like I still think they're like rappers
were just people we're not the yeah you
get money for everything because they're
popular right well I think we're just
they're a byproduct of what they grew up
around I grew up around jug so it wasn't
that I was ever trying to promote drugs
and that was just that was the
experience I had to talk
you know something is for the same for
all rappers you know we all grew up in
our environments and most people you
know at least get rappers we're just
talking about the stuff that we've seen
and been around so that would be like
blaming a reporter for a mass shooting
you know it's like now we're talking
about what's going on around us hey man
cheers brother my cup look at this
here's the oh that's actually perfect
yes that's that's the mythical poopoo
you want to try to do that green for not
permit there's a lien trade going on
yeah you know it's like a supreme Louis
you know so what do you guys
yeah
a long time this party's a lot like all
the kind of stuff you see on Instagram
if you follow these rappers it's fun
than its chilled never is having a good
time but then it's also very real I mean
he just got a face tattoo that said
suffering across his face so you can
tell it like yeah there's the good fun
side to drugs the recreational side but
then there's also the kind of escaping
side of drugs and there's obviously a
lot of emotion there to escape from are
you feeling the green yeah and they're
definitely I mean it's like I feel like
you go rap absolutely not absolutely no
if I couldn't rap before and I did but I
I don't know just like people would say
things and I wouldn't quite properly
hear them yeah and I would see things
and not fully ignored them yeah almost
like I wasn't really acknowledging the
world around me almost like I was tuning
out from the world and I can see if you
keep doing that then it's like a very
very short step to getting a face tattoo
yeah okay when you say that you were
when you say that you were tuning out do
you mean that um like your focus on
yourself
or tuning it out it just I think
focusing less on myself and less on the
world around me that's interesting I I
think that's the important downfall yeah
it's important to focus on both of those
things but especially right dude thank
you so much I appreciate y'all really
appreciate the opportunity to talk and
I'm suggesting really
there are a lot of potential reasons as
to why lean to be coming back right now
the easiest thing to do is to blame
rappers and Instagram which have kind of
served as liens ultimate marketing tools
but codeine at its heart is a
prescription based opiate and rappers
didn't invent the opioid crisis all
opiates are used to try and escape
something so maybe the bigger question
here is why is our generation trying to
escape
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