What Is Liquid Heroin?

Heroin has long been a major problem across the world. This highly addictive illegal drug is made from morphine, a non-synthetic narcotic that comes from the seedpod of opium poppies grown in Asia, Mexico, and Colombia. While it often comes in the form of a white or brown powder that is injected, snorted, or smoked, there are a growing number of variations — including so-called liquid heroin.

So, what is liquid heroin? In most cases, this name is used to refer to something that isn’t actually heroin. Instead, liquid heroin, more frequently called lean, is a beverage combining two kinds of medications with flavors that, when ingested, can cause users to feel euphoric, relaxed, and drowsy — similar to the effects of heroin. Like the other drugs that are recreationally abused, the short-term feelings that lean causes are overshadowed by the high risk of overdose or major health problems that can arise from this dangerous drug.

Is Lean Liquid Heroin?

Most often, “liquid heroin” refers to lean, which also goes by names like “sizzurp” or “purple drank.” A 2023 analysis published in the Substance Use: Research and Treatment journal recruited 1,423 adults on Reddit pages with self-reported lean use in the past year to see if there were links between using this drug and mental health disorders. The study had some interesting findings about reasons for use:

• Anxiety: Participants with anxiety were likely to have used lean in the past month to cope with their emotions or thoughts.
• Trauma: Those who were exposed to trauma at some point in their life were likely to use the drug to cope with their feelings.
• Gender: Women were much more likely than men to use lean to deal with their emotions in the past month.
• Depression: Participants who had depression were less likely to use the drug as an emotional coping mechanism.
• Housing: Those with unstable housing were also less likely to use lean for emotional reasons.

Treating addiction to heroin or other opioids, including the codeine-containing lean, is possible — and professional help from a drug rehab like WhiteSands Treatment is your best chance to avoid the overdoses and health consequences that can happen if you continue using this drug.

What Does Lean Do?

This beverage has a sweet flavor because the medications that cause the actual high of lean are combined with soda or sweeteners. But what does it do? Users can feel a sense of euphoria due to the opioids in this drug combination. The most common version of lean also includes a medication that amplifies the strength of codeine and makes users very relaxed and tired.

At high doses, this beverage can cause hallucinations. In addition to these euphoric, relaxing feelings, people who take this drug can suffer from poor judgment, difficulty thinking, and slowed breathing. When it’s combined with other drugs, such as alcohol or prescription medications, users are at risk of liver and kidney damage, drowsiness, and even a fatal overdose.

What Is Lean Made Of?

Liquid heroin, or lean, doesn’t have a strict recipe — though there are some common elements in how it’s made. Typically, lean starts with a combination of a prescription cough medicine that contains codeine, an opioid, and promethazine, an allergy and antihistamine medication that amplifies the effects of codeine and makes users feel drowsy and relaxed. Most often, users will combine these two medicines with a sweet soda, and the combination of cough medicine and soda gives it a characteristic purple color, which is why it’s nicknamed “purple drank.” Many people also add hard candies like Jolly Ranchers to sweeten the beverage.

While the drink is sweet, its risks are anything but. People who drink lean are at risk of developing an addiction to codeine, the opioid that causes its effects. Consuming large amounts of these medications can be toxic, causing liver or kidney damage. Users are also in danger of suffering from things like extreme drowsiness, hallucinations, slowed breathing, seizures, and fatal overdoses.

How Long Is the Withdrawal From Lean?

Liquid heroin isn’t actually heroin, at least not in the traditional sense — but it does contain the opioid codeine. Because of that, people who abuse this drink can become addicted to the substance. Like other opioids, users who suddenly quit can suffer from various codeine withdrawal symptoms that can continue for days, including:

• Intense cravings to use lean.
• Depression, anxiety, or anger.
• Sleep problems.
• Muscle and body aches and headaches.
• Diarrhea, stomach pain, and nausea.
• Chills.
• Tremors.
• Problems concentrating or sitting still.
• Congestion.
• Hot flashes.

While these flu-like symptoms will typically ease up after a few days and generally aren’t life-threatening, withdrawal from codeine can be very uncomfortable and unpleasant, and many people who attempt to quit cold turkey in their home will quickly relapse in an attempt to feel better.

Get Help With Liquid Heroin Addiction from WhiteSands Treatment

Being able to see warning signs of drug abuse is important, whether it’s knowing the signs of injecting heroin or tell-tale clues that they’re experimenting with liquid heroin. Most lean users are young boys and men in their teens or 20s who are connected to or interested in hip-hop music or electronic dance music parties. If you notice a loved one spending their time and money trying to get the ingredients, continuing to use the drug despite health or relationship problems, or using lean every day, it’s important to know that help is available.

At WhiteSands Treatment’s network of drug and alcohol rehab facilities across Florida, our professionals know how to help people overcome addiction to all substances, including prescription medications like the active ingredients in lean. We can provide the medical detox, inpatient addiction treatment, one-on-one therapy, and continuing support and encouragement they need to get through rehab and come out a stronger, healthier person who can live a full life without the dangers of lean. Learn more about how we can help by calling 877-855-3470 today.

External Sources

• Drug Enforcement Administration — Heroin Drug Fact Sheet
• National Library of Medicine — Lean/Sizzurp Ingredients, Use, and Coping with Mental Health Symptoms
• Medical News Today — What to Know About Codeine Withdrawal

If you or a loved one needs help with abuse and/or treatment, please call the WhiteSands Treatment at (877) 855-3470. Our addiction specialists can assess your recovery needs and help you get the addiction treatment that provides the best chance for your long-term recovery.