More and more substances make their way into people’s hands every year. Lean is one them. However, a lot of people tend to wonder, “What is lean?” Increasing your knowledge of this potent drink can help you avoid its dangerous effects.

What Is Lean Specifically?A man wondering what is lean?

Lean is just one name for this concoction. Others include dirty Sprite, purple drank, and sizzurp as well as other variations. The main ingredient is prescription-strength cough syrup. To mask the flavor of the medicine, people combine it with soft drinks, fruit-flavored candies or both.

What Is Lean and Its History?

Although lean has become popular as of late, it’s been around since the 1960s. It started with blues musicians in Houston pouring Robitussin into beer. In the 1980s, the trend grew when hip-hop culture became mainstream.

Rappers have been promoting lean consumption throughout the 1990s, and people widely abused it during the early 2000s. Stars such as Three 6 Mafia and Lil Wayne endorse the drink in their lyrics. However, sports stars have a track record of drinking lean too. For example, Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell and former San Diego Chargers safety Terrence Kiel have all mentioned their lean use.

In the late 2000s, the popularity of lean declined. However, demand went up again in 2011. With this resurgence, lean has become more common among young adults because they’re influenced by the celebrities who drink it.

Additionally, teens experiment with high doses of normal cough syrup to get high on dextromethorphan (DXM). This common ingredient causes hallucinations in large amounts. Nearly half of over-the-counter cough syrups contain DXM, so it’s legal and cheap for teens to buy. Plus, parents don’t recognize it as dangerous at first glance because of its purple color.

Why Lean Is Dangerous

Although DXM is dangerous in high doses, prescription cough syrup is a bigger threat. Its ingredients include codeine and promethazine.

Codeine is a powerful opioid drug, which is addictive. In fact, people often use codeine to make heroin. It suppresses breathing and can lead to respiratory failure. Promethazine is an antihistamine that has sedative effects and impairs motor functions.

Together, these ingredients cause impaired vision, dizziness, confusion, nausea, and rash. Some people even experience seizures and memory problems. In addition, regularly drinking lean can lead to dental decay, urinary tract infections, constipation, and weight gain.

Furthermore, it’s easy for people to overdose on lean. No two drinks have the same ratio of prescription cough syrup to soda. Because of this, there’s no way to know how much codeine is in one drink. Since the soda masks the medicine flavor, people also lose track of how much they drink.

Lean Addiction Help at Steps to Recovery

If you think that you have a lean addiction, Steps to Recovery can help. We offer codeine addiction treatment for overcoming your substance problem. We also offer various outpatient programs for additional drug addictions, including:

Don’t be a lean statistic. Let our compassionate staff create a treatment plan that addresses your needs. Dial 267.719.8528 now to begin working toward recovery.