MEXICO CITY—A teddy bear in Mexico was found stuffed with the highly addictive, sometimes deadly substance “lean”, authorities said on Sunday.
Lean, which is also referred to by a variety of other names (purple drank, purp, syrup, sizzurp), is generally a liquid combination of cough syrup, jolly ranchers and soda (usually Sprite), that due to the opioid codeine in the medicine can cause addiction, and sometimes death.
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Mexico’s National Guard discovered the teddy bear using sniffer dogs in a mailing service office in the city of Culiacan — the bastion of the Sinaloa Cartel. Inside the teddy bear were 10 small vials of lean containing codeine, authorities said in a statement. While photos of the product were blurred, the vials appear to be marked with an image of a soda bottle being poured into a purple liquid, with the words “purple drank.” The teddy bear was destined to be sent to the border city of Tijuana, just south of San Diego, California.
Although lean has periodically appeared in Mexico, generally only for personal consumption, its use pales in comparison to that of the United States, where the dangerous combination first originated.
The use of cough syrup mixed with alcohol began in the 1960s, but it remained a relatively little known practice until the 1990s. The popularity of the drink is generally attributed to Houston musician DJ Screw, who often mentioned it in his songs. He also began releasing mixtapes which he called “chopped and screwed”, where the tempo of the tracks were slowed down to give the feeling of what it was like to be under the influence of lean.
Still, the use of lean remained principally in the Texas area, and a few surrounding states, for years. That changed in 2000, when lean burst onto the public consciousness after seminal Memphis hip hop group Three 6 Mafia released the song “Sippin’ on Some Syrup“, featuring UGK. The song extolled the consumption of purple drank, accompanied by a popular music video featuring the rappers partying in a night club and bikini-clad women hanging out on the beach.
But it didn’t take long for the negative effects of lean to also make headlines: DJ Screw died from an overdose related to his use of lean, on November 16, just months after the song’s release. In 2007, Pimp C, one half of legendary hip hop group UGK who were featured on Sippin’ on Some Syrup, also died from an overdose related to his use of lean. Some of the world’s most famous rappers like Lil Wayne, Future and Macklemore have all acknowledged struggling with lean addictions over the years.
It’s unclear if the small quantity of lean found in Culiacan was for personal use, or a sign of the Sinaloa Cartel moving into the trafficking of lean.
