Talk:Purple drank

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An entry from Purple drank appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 28 October 2006.

Contents 1 Its a damn Liquor 2 DXM containing cough syrups 3 The Purplish Hue 4 Multiple Meanings 5 Ability to cause blindness 6 Needs more Grimace 7 Am I the only one... 8 How is this legal? 9 I think Sizzurp would be more accurate of an "official" name than purple drank 10 Spelling of pronunciation 11 Pimp C 12 Proposed merge

[edit] Its a damn Liquor

Sizzurp should not be associated with the cough syrup, its actually a liquor, search Google Images...what pops up?? Green420jdubb (talk) 14:16, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] DXM containing cough syrups

Cnota 22:47, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

lots of cough syrups also have dextromethorpan hydrobromide, a cough supressant that when taken in large doses, along the order of a bottle or two of syrup, results in a significant hallucinatory and disassociative episode, on par with most illegal hallucinogens. This is definately also a factor in these experiences.

Actually, since the cough syrup used is usually a codeine-containing cough syrup, the use of dextromethorphan (DXM) in OTC cough syrups is usually not a factor in the effects of what is usually referred to as "purple drank." The effects of codeine and DXM are very different, with DXM being a dissociative (by way of NMDA antagonism) and codeine being an opiate. It is also important to note that many OTC DXM cough syrups also contain guaifenesin and/or acetomenophan which if used in large quantities can cause severe health defects. JAVIonics 21:03, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Purplish Hue

Is in fact, not derived from codeine, but from added dyes to make the cough syrup more distinct in color.

--65.33.43.1 18:28, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Multiple Meanings

Designating a precise definition of "purple drank" could be deceptive. The black community is known for its celebration of beverages that are low cost and contain a lot of sugar (like koolaid and generic brand carbonated sodas). The grape flavors of these drinks are, of course, purple. When an urban person says "purple drank" they may well be referring to something more innocent. I cite Dave Chappelle's comments about a Sunny Delight ad in which the term "purple stuff" is invoked. He joked that had a black young man been in the commercial he would have preferred the “purple drank”.--Gtg207u 05:48, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

--65.33.43.1 18:26, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ability to cause blindness

As mentioned in the article, the syrup (assuming mixture of codeine and promethazine) is characterized as having the ability to cause blindness in larger doses. Can someone cite a source for this?

[edit] Needs more Grimace

The main article needs that infamous Photoshopped picture of Grimace, the purple McDonald's mascot character, holding a huge bottle of cough syrup and grinning, with gold teeth showing, and the large caption, "PURPLE DRANK, I'm-a grip and sip"

Seriously, is this Wikipedia, or is this encyclopediadramatica?

If the aforementioned picture is important to the concept then it isn't ridiculous. A picture of chicken sex is absurd in the mass consciousness but might be extremely contextual in a John Waters article. I say do what gets the job done as long as you're not stepping on copy rights.--Gtg207u 05:46, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Am I the only one...

I'm sorry to disrupt the talk page like this, but am I the only one who finds the fact that "Lack of coughing" is listed in the article as an effect is incredibly funny? Calgary 06:30, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

It's just a vandalism edit. And yes, more clever than "I love jane". Eli lilly 16:54, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How is this legal?

Not making a judgement call about those who drink it, but the opening paragraph of the article has me confused. It begins by stating that the drink is legal, but the description of it as containing prescription-strength codeine levels makes me question its legality. What are the loopholes that make this legal? If it involves OTC codeine syrups, then the "prescription-strength" claim is off-base. If it's prescription-strength, then prescription diversion (if not other things like scrip forgery) belies the "drink is legal" claim. Student Driver 01:04, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

It was vandalism introduced two edits back, thanks for catching it. Eli lilly 22:48, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Codeine is always prescription only, dumbass —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.192.239.212 (talk) 04:23, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] I think Sizzurp would be more accurate of an "official" name than purple drank

I have been recently dissecting the lyrics to several popular hip-hop songs that have mention of this concoction, and I would like to add some clarifications based on what I've been able to glean.

In the lyrics of the Three 6 song "Sippin on that Syrup"(pronounced sizzurp in the song), one of the rappers sings, "I got the wet promethazine, thick orange and yellow Tuss". Shortly thereafter he sings "Hydrocodone on that hands free phone" and then later "40 dollars for just one ounce ounce, Tussionex is how its pronounced". Even later in the song is "Nothing like that yella yella that will have you itching man". There is also a song by a rapper named "Chrome"(possibly Lil Chrome) who has a song entitled 1G 0z, the main chorus in which he sings "I got 16 ounces purple and yellow Tuss".

We already know that the original intoxicating ingredient in the beverage is a purple prescription strength cough syrup containing promethazine(an antihistamine, commonly used to relieve allergy symptoms) and codeine(an opium-derived pain medicine). However, there is another prescription-only cough syrup containing an antihistamine and pain-killer that can be substituted, and that medicine is currently under the brand name "Tussionex". Chlorpheniramine is substituted for the promethazine, and hydrocodone is substitued for the codeine. Both are commonly used to treat very severe coughing when over the counter syrups containing dextromethorphan are not enough.

Because I have been prescribed Tussionex, I can attest to the fact that it has an orange/yellow color. I think what the wikipedia article refers to as "purple drank", is a misnomer, due to the fact that the purple color is achieved by using only one of the two possible intoxicating prescription-strength syrups. When Three 6 Mafia coined the term "Sizzurp", its clear that in that particular song, they are referring to a drink made with either the (purple) promethazine/codeine syrup, OR Tussionex (yellow). Therefore, I submit that the main wikipedia article be renamed from "purple drank" to what I believe is the closest thing to an "official" coining for the beverage, "Sizzurp".

I may be able to add some citations later, if needed. Also, I believe I've listened to enough songs to be able to decipher most of the other possible ingredients for the beverage. The main one seems to be a citrus flavored beverage, such as Sprite or Lemonaid. Jolly Ranchers are often used to add flavor, since the mixture is often already sweet. This is commonly prepared with ice and in a Styrofoam cup(to chill and insulate). Any challenges to what I've posted here are welcome.

Ahh, i see so it is the "rappers" that are now defining the world of encyclopedias. I will make sure to keep my ear open when they start talking about the edownfall of the roman empire. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.192.236.174 (talk) 00:34, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

As it happens, until a few minutes ago the entire list of alternative names for this concoction was unsourced. I just now inserted citations to sources for some of the names. Users continually add more names. Names that lack reliable sources should be removed. --Orlady (talk) 04:16, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Spelling of pronunciation

I mean, isn't it just "purple drink" rendered in a thick accent? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.21.221 (talk) 00:39, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Sure, but the "purple drank" spelling is often used to specifically refer to the illicit beverage, while "purple drink" could be any cheap grape beverage.09:49, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Pimp C

Where's the heart failure part coming from? Every article I've read on his death since the tox report came back says that it was a combination of codeine and pre-existing sleep apnea. Codeine represses respiratory functions and combined with sleep apnea - in which you stop breathing during sleep - you get an accidental OD. Th 2005 (talk) 06:54, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed merge

This article's title "Puple drank" isn't appropriate for a wikipedia entry. Sure, all the street names should be mentioned and redirected to the entry, but shouldn't this be a subsection under Codeine#Recreational_use? Just like how Ice (drug) redirects to the methamphetamine article. Alvis (talk) 06:48, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Support - Merge the articles

1. merge LightSpeed3 (talk) 00:05, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
2. I understand both sides of the debate, and support the merge. Purple Drank is, in my opinion, technically a recreational use of codeine. As such, it should be merged into this article.

Cameron K. (talk) 19:09, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Oppose - Keep the articles separate

1. I oppose the merger. Purple drank is not a form of codeine, but a drug of abuse that contains codeine and other active ingredients (notable promethazine), as well as colorant and various sweet liquids. Moreover, under its various street names, the drug is a subject of many cultural references. (For the record, I got involved in editing Purple drank because of a cultural reference to it in Nicknames of Houston. All I know about Purple Drank is what I learned here...)
   1. There is ample precedent for Wikipedia to have multiple articles about a particular recreational drug family, using street names. For example, consider the various articles about cocaine, such as Black cocaine, Brown-brown, Crack cocaine, Fishscale cocaine, Hollywood (slang), Paco (drug), and Ypadu. --Orlady (talk) 00:27, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
2. Oppose. Lean is a different drug and has different effects, as well as a large subculture. 206.55.190.99 (talk) 22:22, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
3. I oppose the merge; as opposed to the section 'recreational codeine use' which is still largely scientific, this article 'purple drank' is primarily concerned with sub-culture surrounding a particular means of ingesting recreational doses of codeine. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.131.226.194 (talk) 08:35, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
4. Oppose and Rename - After looking at both articles, my opinion is that the Codeine article suffers excess information about the recreational use of the drug. Someone looking for information on codeine is probably more interested in it as a drug than as a recreational drug, and the article should focus on that. It should focus more on the drug chemistry, it's history, proper usage, side effects, etc. like many other drug-related entries here. The Purple drank article would do better renamed to Recreational use of codeine or something along those lines (not exactly sure of the preferred naming convention for such articles). Then, take that section out of Codeine and merge it into the newly renamed article. Purple drank could then be a section within the article, but the article could cover all aspects of recreational (ab)use of the drug. Within the codeine article, a see also entry could point to the newly renamed article. Problem solved. (Hopefully.) --Willscrlt (Talk) 08:48, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Comments

• I just finished reading all of the example articles mentioned above for Ice (drug), [cocaine]], Black cocaine, Brown-brown, Crack cocaine, Fishscale cocaine, Hollywood (slang), Paco (drug), Ypadu, and, most importantly, the articles on Codeine and Purple drank. (Yes, it was a lot of reading about topics in which I have zero interest.) I have reached the same conclusion that 202.131.226.194 arrived at. The focus of the two articles are completely different. I really do not see how the Codeine article would be improved in any way by incorporating the largely social aspects of the Purple drank article, and vice versa. These really are similar to the Cocaine or Crack cocaine articles (each of which are completely different articles despite their nearly identical names and related topics) compared to Hollywood (slang), Paco (drug), or Ypadu. In the last three articles, the focus is on the culture using the drug, not really the drug itself. That is almost exactly the case here. And like here, I do not think that either of the cocaine article would be improved by merging the smaller cultural articles into the larger ones. I also do not think that any other combination of the drug articles would be particularly beneficial. Perhaps an all-inclusive article on the coca-leaf and cocaine socio-economic and cultural issues could pull it off. The same is true here. If someone could figure out a way to write an article that splits the socio-economic and cultural issues of ALL recreational use of codeine, then Purple Drank would be a good fit in there. Until, I think that leaving them separate as they are currently is best. I am not sure if my earlier suggestion of renaming the article is a good one or not. Given how the cocaine derivatives are named, I'm now disinclined to rename Purple Drank, unless it was to name it by a different common name. Syrup is used commonly throughout the article. I'd suggest someone run some Google stats and see what the most commonly used name is, and then go with that as the name for the article. --Willscrlt (Talk) 06:24, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Just popping by - the merge was proposed in March and there's more opposition than support. I'm removing the merge tags. DenisMoskowitz (talk) 15:03, 5 June 2008 (UTC)