Sizzurp is a homemade recreational drug, also known as “purple drank” that produces mild euphoria.

Sizzurp, combines cough syrup containing codeine and promethazine with a soft drink, usually Sprite or Mountain Dew. Sometimes the consumer throws in a Jolly Rancher fruit candy for even a sweeter flavor. The extreme sweetness of the drink makes it more palatable to first-time users. Doctors warn that the concoction can be deadly.

To make sizzurp, the consumer mixes cough syrup containing codeine and promethazine with a soft drink, usually Sprite or Mountain Dew. Sometimes the consumer throws in a Jolly Rancher fruit candy for an even sweeter flavor. The extreme sweetness of the drink makes it more palatable to first-time users.

The cough syrup gives sizzurp a distinct purple color.

Sizzurp and Hip-Hop Culture

Sizzurp originated in Houston, Texas, in the 1960s and 1970s when it was known as “Lean” because of the way it makes the consumer tilt or lean to one side. The drink made a comeback in the 1990s when rapper DJ Screw popularized the drink.

Sizzurp is now pervasive in hip-hop culture and beyond. Three 6 Mafia released “Sippin’ on Some Syrup,” sometimes known as “Sippin’ on Some Sizzurp,” in 2000. In the 2005 rap hit “Lock & Load,” Lil Wayne’s lyric says “I’m probably drinkin’ that syrup/Thinking I won’t slip/Even though I’m leaning like a broken hip.” Pop star Justin Bieber used song lyrics to compare the drink with love. Photographers have captured several images of television personality Rob Kardashian with cups containing liquid that closely resembles sizzurp.

Signs that someone has been drinking sizzurp include: 

• Slurred speech
• Blurred vision
• Euphoria
• Dissociation from one’s own body
• Impaired motor skills
• Lethargy
• Sedation or drowsiness

Codeine and Promethazine

Codeine and promethazine are the active ingredients in sizzurp. Codeine is an opiate that works with the central nervous system to cause euphoria. Promethazine is an antihistamine commonly used to treat motion sickness and nausea, but it also acts as a sedative.

At therapeutic doses, cough syrups containing codeine and promethazine are quite safe. The amount of codeine in one sizzurp drink, however, may exceed up to 25 times the recommended dose.

Promethazine depresses the central nervous system and enhances the euphoric effects of codeine to cause motor skill impairment, lethargy, and extreme drowsiness. Promethazine also creates a feeling of being disconnected from one’s body. Overdose of promethazine causes profound low blood pressure, slow breathing, unconsciousness, and even death.

Codeine depresses the respiratory system to slow breathing. When taken in very high doses, like that in sizzurp drinks, codeine can cause the consumer to stop breathing. Death may occur. At least three talented professionals in the hip-hop industry who advertised their use of sizzurp have died: music producer DJ Screw and rappers MC Big Moe and Pimp C.

As with all drugs, cough syrup containing codeine and promethazine can cause serious side effects, including addiction and physical dependence. It is possible to become addicted to sizzurp or physically dependent on the codeine inside the drink.

The physical discomfort and mental anguish of dependence and addiction make it difficult to stop using sizzurp. In a 2008 MTV interview, Lil Wayne talked about how hard it is to quit taking drugs and said, “It ain’t that easy — feels like death in your stomach when you stop doing that s**t. You gotta learn how to stop, you gotta go through detox. You gotta do all kinds of stuff. Like I said, I’m selfish. I feel like everything I do is successful and productive. It’s gonna be hard to tell me I’m slipping.”

Codeine Detox and Drug Treatment Facility

If you think that you or someone you know is slipping into a deep problem with sizzurp, contact Waismann Method ® today. People who use sizzurp for a long time may require codeine detox to help them stop drinking this homemade concoction. Our trained staff understands how difficult it can be to stop using codeine and other opiates, we utilize advanced addiction treatment techniques like rapid opiate detox that can free your body of opiates within days, our drug treatment facility is located in Orange, CA.  The Waismann Method has helped thousands detox from opiates, including codeine, for more information about codeine detox and other addiction treatment programs give us a call (888) 987-4673.

Sources

http://youtu.be/hPRmONLe8Ek
http://www.tmz.com/2014/04/29/justin-bieber-sizzurp-song/
http://www.rxlist.com/phenergan-drug/overdosage-contraindications.htm