"purple stuff"

[Sheila]

FYI

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Called "lean," "drank," "barre," "purple stuff," or "syrup," the drug is a combination of prescription codeine and promethazine hydrochloride cough syrup (PHCS), soda and candy. </div></div>

Also referred to as liquid heroin.

Speaking out Informing a Nation
http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/brochure/purplestuff.htm

CODEINE-LACED COUGH SYRUP
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5230362.html

Excerpt: "...A deadly legacy
Although drug experts say they are not aware of any studies showing the definitive health effects of cough syrup abuse, some say researchers will learn of its sobering legacy on minority youths.

"Kids think it's a safe drug because it's something that doctors prescribe," said Troy Jefferson, manager of the youth drug treatment program at Riverside, which operates out of the Fifth Ward.

Jefferson said that nearly 50 percent of his juvenile drug addicts drink cough syrup, using it in deadly combinations: They dip marijuana joints and cigarillos in it. They pop Xanax.

"It's just a matter of time before we see the long-term effects, when these kids start turning 30, and they all of a sudden need kidney transplants," Jefferson said.

There is nothing new about abusing cough syrup with codeine, a highly addictive opiate made from the same poppy seed used for heroin. It has been documented as a drug habit since the 1960s, said Kenneth Hoffman, a medical officer for the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a federal agency that monitors drug use.

And with a high enough dosage, a user can go into respiratory arrest and stop breathing. In 2005, 421 death certificates in Texas mentioned opiates, including codeine cough syrup, and other drugs as a cause of death, according to a report prepared by Jane Maxwell, senior research scientist at the Center for Social Work Research at the University of Texas at Austin.

"The worst-case scenario is you can die," Hoffman said.

Since the late 1990s, codeine-laced cough syrup has enjoyed a resurgence with the popularity of Screw music, a distinctive sound of rap that has a slow and chopped-up melodic flow. Screw artists such as Big Moe, born Kenneth Moore, praised it for its euphoric effects, the remedy to a hard-knock life.

"It's liquid heroin," said Al D. "Kids be looking at us, listening to our music thinking that they got to be drinking to be listening to our music, and we don't want them to do that."

Still often overlooked
But experts say the damage may have been done already. A 2002 study by sociologist Ronald Peters, an assistant professor of behavioral sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center, found that codeine-laced cough syrup is a growing public health problem for black teens. Although Peters said it is not that easy to acquire anymore because of a crackdown by law enforcement, it is still often overlooked by health officials screening abusers..."

[standswithcourage]

I think my gfg was using that too. I saw a cough syrup bottle in his possession with the label ripped off. He is in jail now.

[susiestar]

And our pediatricians say if the kids have a cough that lasts for over 2 weeks, is esp painful, or they don't respond to Delsym to come in right away for a scrip for cough syrup with codeine.

My boys cough ALL winter. Have since birth, and they were winter babies.

Needless to say I push allergy meds (start, well, we don't stop!) with the 24hr prescription stuff and rarely go in for this.

For those of you who have kids with coughs who may need prescription cough meds, sometimes the pills are easier to control the use of (kids can't jsut take a sip, you can keep the bottle with you also). They do the same thing, the liquid just feels soothing. The allergy doc and the asthma doc both say this.

So sorry to all who are dealing with this.

[Dammit Janet]

Good grief! They dip joints into anything these days. Next thing you know they will be dipping them into the toilet.

[Stella Johnson]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dammit Janet</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Good grief! They dip joints into anything these days. Next thing you know they will be dipping them into the toilet.

</div></div>

Dipping joints into it isn't all that new. We did it in high school. (Shhh... don't tell my parents) [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/surprise.gif[/img]
It does make it extremely strong. I remember throwing up after doing it, much like heroin.

I'm surprised there aren't more deaths from it.

steph

[Ephchap]

Thanks for the article, Sheila.

One of the few things my gfg probably didn't try, so I was unfamiliar with it. I know even now, because he's on anti-anxiety meds, the pharmacist cautioned against using cough syrup.

Deb

[KFld]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dammit Janet</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Good grief! They dip joints into anything these days. Next thing you know they will be dipping them into the toilet.

</div></div>

[img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rofl.gif[/img]