Purple drank Purple drank is a slang term for a concoction
which includes a prescription-strength cough syrup used in a manner inconsistent with its
labeling, as a recreational drug. The mixture became popular in the hip hop community in
the southern United States, originating in Houston.
The prescription-strength cough syrup used in purple drank contains codeine and promethazine
(not to be confused with dextromethorphan; DXM). The cough syrup, used in doses much
higher than medically recommended, is typically mixed with ingredients such as the soft drink
Sprite or Mountain Dew and optionally "a Jolly Rancher hard fruit candy thrown in for extra
sweetness." The purplish hue of purple drank comes from dyes in the cough syrup. The amount
of cough syrup used "can exceed up to 25 times the recommended dose." The concoction is "Typically
consumed out of Styrofoam cups". There are numerous slang terms for purple
drank, including sizzurp, lean, syrup, drank, barre, purple jelly, Texas tea, and Tsikuni.
Effects The physiological effects of purple drank
on the user is to produce mild "euphoric side effects", which are accompanied by "Motor-skill
impairment, lethargy, drowsiness, and a dissociative feeling from all other parts of the body".
Houston author Lance Scott Walker points out that the super-sweet combination of soda,
cough syrup, and Jolly Ranchers provides a flavor and mouth-feel that provides a taste
that due to the syrup stays on the tongue - causing users to obsess on the sweetness
on their tongues all day. This phenomenon is often appealing to first time users. Purple
drank is often used in combination with alcohol and/or other drugs.
Hazards In an article following the hospitalization
of the rapper Lil Wayne alleged to be related to purple drank, the LA Times spoke to physician
and hospitalist Dr. George Fallieras, on the hazards of the concoction. Fallieras stated
that in its intended usage "The codeine in the medicine serves as a pain reliever and
also suppresses coughing. A second drug in the cough syrup, known as promethazine, is
used as an antihistamine and commonly used to treat motion sickness and nausea. It’s
also a bit of a sedative -- employed partly to keep people from drinking too much of the
stuff. This is a very common cough syrup that, when taken in appropriately prescribed quantities,
is quite safe." Dangers arise in higher dosages because promethazine
is a depressant of the central nervous system and codeine is a respiratory depressant. When
codeine is taken in very large amounts, it can cause the taker to stop breathing. Using
alcohol and other drugs alongside purple drank increases the chance of problems. Fallieras
stated that the concoction does not cause seizures itself but increases their likelihood
in those susceptible to them. The drink includes a "massive" amount of the opiate codeine,
which can be addictive in high doses, and Fallieras records that "promethazine has at
least anecdotally been noted to intensify the euphoric effects of codeine in the brain."
The addictive nature of the drink means that trying to discontinue regular usage can bring
about symptoms of withdrawal. In a 2008 interview with MTV News, Lil Wayne described the withdrawl
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." History
According to Houston based author Lance Scott Walker, purple drank developed in that city
around the 1960s when blues musicians would take Robitussin and cut it with beer. Later
when wine coolers came onto the market, they substituted for beer. These blues musicians
lived in Houston's 5th ward, 3rd ward, and South Park neighborhoods and the practice
was taken up by the generation of rappers growing up in the same parts of the city.
In the 1980s and 1990s the formula changed to using codeine promethazine cough syrup,
lemon-lime flavored soda, and Jolly Ranchers. Professor Ronald Peters, also a Houston resident,
points out that purple drank remained a local Houston phenomenon until the 1990s rapper
DJ Screw released several tunes mentioning the drink in his mixtapes which were extremely
popular in the Houston area. Walker holds that 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 rappers freestyling over beats and he would
make these big mixtapes and then he would actually slow them down even further on his
cassette recorder." DJ Screw's invoking purple drank in his lyrics and his use of slow tempos,
has caused his style to be characterized "As if the song itself has taken too much codeine
promethazine". Rappers outside of Houston soon adopted aspects of his style.
Walker points out that purple drank had never been stigmatized in Houston, but with the
apparently purple drank related early death of DJ Screw, the concoction became the focus
of law enforcement in the Houston area with felony charges being applied for some aspects
surrounding it. Popularization
Houston producer DJ Screw popularized the concoction, which is widely attributed as
a source of inspiration for the "chopped and screwed" style of hip hop music. The promethazine
and codeine concoction first gained popularity in the underground rap scene in Houston, where
musician Big Hawk said it was consumed as early as the 1960s and 1970s, becoming more
widely used in the early 1990s. Because of usage by rap artists in Houston, it became
more popular in the 1990s. Its use later spread to other southern states.
In June 2000, Three 6 Mafia's single "Sippin' on Some Syrup," featuring UGK, brought the
term "purple drank" to a nationwide audience. In 2004, the University of Texas found that
8.3% of secondary school students in Texas had taken codeine syrup to get high. The Drug
Enforcement Administration reports "busts" involving syrup across the southern United
States, particularly in Texas and Florida. As of 2011, the price of purple drank in Houston
is twice the price as it is in Los Angeles. Notable deaths from use
Purple drank is confirmed or suspected to have caused the deaths of several prominent
users. 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-depressing
phenothiazine-related antihistamine promethazine. This depression is dose-related and is the
mechanism for the potentially fatal consequences of overdose: respiratory or cardiac arrest.
As with most CNS depressants, mixing with alcohol greatly increases the risk of respiratory
failure and other complications. DJ Screw, who popularized the codeine-based
drink, died of a codeine-promethazine-alcohol overdose on November 16, 2000, several months
after the video to Three 6 Mafia's single debuted.
Big Moe, a DJ Screw protégé whose albums City of Syrup and Purple World were based
on the drink and who has been described as having "rapped obsessively about the drug,"
died at age 33 on October 14, 2007, after suffering a heart attack one week earlier
that left him in a coma. There was speculation that purple drank may have contributed to
his death. Pimp C, widely influential Port Arthur, Texas
rapper and a member of rap duo UGK, was found dead on December 4, 2007, at the Mondrian
Hotel in West Hollywood, California. The Los 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
of sleep 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. Other notable incidents
In September 2006, Terrence Kiel, a San Diego Chargers player, was arrested during practice
for the possession with intent to sell prescription cough syrup for use in making the drink. Kiel
was caught trying to ship a case of syrup to a friend via FedEx. Kiel was charged with
two felony counts of transporting a controlled substance and three counts of possession for
sale of a controlled substance. On July 8, 2008, Johnny Jolly, a Green Bay
Packers player, was pulled over in his car for excessive music. The officers found a
Dr Pepper bottle in a holder next to two Styrofoam cups containing soda and ice. The officers
said the cups and the bottle all emitted "strong odors of codeine." The case was dismissed
at first, 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
for probation. On July 5, 2010, former Oakland Raiders quarterback
JaMarcus Russell was arrested at his home in Mobile, 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.
On March 15, 2013, Lil Wayne was hospitalized with seizures after a sizzurp binge.
On June 11, 2013, just days after being robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco, rapper 2 Chainz
was arrested at Los Angeles international airport on charges of possessing marijuana
and promethazine and codeine, the primary ingredients of purple drank.
Ingredients The most popular type of codeine syrup is
promethazine-codeine, a prescription cough syrup. The active ingredients are codeine,
a narcotic, and promethazine, an antihistamine. When taken in large quantities, both medications
can lead to sedation and altered levels of consciousness. The inclusion of the antihistamine
is intended to deter abuse, as doses higher-than-recommended can produce extreme somnolence, clinical weakness,
and ultimately, fatal hypoventilation (inadequate breathing to sustain life). In lower doses,
the antihistamine targets cold symptoms through reducing both swelling and vasodilation; it
also acts to potentiate the opiate codeine. Prescription cough syrups containing hydrocodone
are also used to make similar drinks, though they are less popular. Songs like "Sippin'
on Some Syrup" by Three 6 Mafia refer to Tussionex, a yellow cough syrup containing extended-release
hydrocodone and chlorpheniramine (another antihistamine). Other hydrocodone-containing
syrups such as Histinex HC, Hycotuss, and Hycodan may also be used, but Hycodan has
added homatropine to deter abuse. Syrup also is made with over-the-counter cough syrups
such as Robitussin DM, which contain dextromethorphan as the cough suppressant. Although dextromethorphan
is used recreationally, it has dissociative effects as opposed to narcotic. Dextromethorphan
is a synthetic morphine analog, although without opioid activity that morphine has, that has
been on the market in the United States since the 1950s. It is a cough suppressant in small
doses, but in large doses it can result in a disassociative state, with hallucinations,
similar to that produced by PCP or ketamine. Promethazine-codeine contains 10 mg of codeine
and 6.25 mg of promethazine per 5 mL. Some users report that the large amount of
sugar in drank causes them to experience weight gain, tooth decay, and other medical symptoms.
Mentions in hip hop Notable references to purple drank have appeared
in several hip hop tunes, these include: DJ Screw featuring Big Moe, 'Sippin' Codeine'
(1998) Jay-Z featuring UGK, 'Big Pimpin' (1999)
Three 6 Mafia, 'Sippin' On Some Syrup' (2000) Three 6 Mafia featuring Lil Flip, 'Rainbow
Colors' (2003) Beanie Sigel featuring Bun B, 'Purple Rain'
(2005) Paul Wall, 'Sippin' Tha Barre' (2005)
Commercial products 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 as valerian root and rose hips as well
as the hormone melatonin. Similar "relaxation" or "anti-energy" drinks on the commercial
market use the names "Purple Stuff", "Sippin Syrup", and "Lean".
Criticism These commercial products have been criticized
for their potential to serve as gateways to the dangerous illegal concoction. At a mental
health conference in February 2010, Dr. Ronald Peters, Jr., of the University of Texas Health
Science Center said of "Drank": "They're taking the name, and they're trying to market it
to young people." He described the beverage as "the worst thing I've ever seen on the
street since the making of candy cigarettes."