They say that it takes a full two weeks to kick a habit. That seems like a short time. But if you are a person who does this habit on a regular basis, over a period of time, then two weeks can sound like two years.
Like all drugs, overtime, your body gets used to the effects of what you are doing. While two weeks could be enough to leave something behind, you might still crave the taste or feeling that the habit was giving for months or years. Kicking a habit is really hard thing to do.
We are seeing that with codeine. Syrup sippers around the world are having second thoughts about their use of the drug since the passing of major names like Fredo Santana whose kidney failure is being linked to his longtime use of syrup.
Pouring out your product is one thing, walking away from it all together is another. Especially when this one is being promoted on a different level.
“Look at what’s happening. We have companies now making branded styrofoam cups. People really think it’s not a big deal,” said Ooskie.
Cannabis grower and activist and holistic entrepreneur, Ooskie knows a lot about kicking a habit. He’s faced his own demons in the past.
“It’s something you are going to want to do. If you don’t want to quit, then any alternative isn’t going to help. Drinking lean is like heroin. You’re chasing a dragon.”
More like, the dragon is chasing you. The pain that comes from trying to quit syrup cold turkey can at times be more dangerous than the use itself.
“The knowledge that you’re going to die doesn’t stop them. It’s embracing death.A lot of the deaths you see isn’t from the use, it’s from the withdrawals. Some of the deaths that were reported wasn’t from recessing of the breath which comes from an overdose, they’re coming from seizures from trying to quit.”
Ooskie speaks from experience. He found himself addicted to benzodiazepine. Trying to quit cold-turkey almost put him at death’s door.
“Trying to quit cold-turkey is dangerous. I myself had a seizure that almost killed me from Trying to kick the habit from using benzodiazepine.”
Ooskie also feels like the addiction to syrup we are seeing has a lot to do with how it’s promoted.
Discussing different brands who have taken to using styrofoam cups to promote their brands, he had this to say.
“They’re out here promoting it like people doing soda. The kids are eating up and no one is really speaking about the dangers. There are dudes curled up in the ER across the country over this shit.”
Some people don’t have as many issues when it comes to kicking the habit. Decatur rapped Elz Jenkins found himself trying out drank when he was in middle school, but has since left it alone. Elz recalled his first time sipping lean with us.
“I sipped lean for the first time in middle school with my older cousin but didn’t reall pick up on it until high school around 2005,” says Jenkins.
“When I was younger, I thought it was cool to be messed up and high. I didn’t really like the taste of alcohol. The lean was sweet and we’d dress it up with soda of course but we’d throw jolly ranchers in there so our cups looked cool. The first few times I sipped I went to sleep.”
The feeling of being cool didn’t last past the high for Elz. He ended up leaning the syrup, rights as many began to causally pick it up.
“The fact that every time I sipped, I went straight to sleep. It tasted good but I would just sleep and wake up feeling like I had a hang over. It just started to seem pointless, but the sad part was, it was such a part of “being cool” I started to lower how much I drank just so I could still drink it.”
The cost of addiction is high one. It can ruin your health and your pockets. Marietta resident Radrigo N. said the reasons he had to stop sipping syrup had everything to do with how his body and bank account began to feel
“I first stopped because you start to lose money buying it from sources, that kept shrinking and shrinking to the point you felt you had a rare pair of shoes that no one else had when you keep buying syrup,” said Radrigo.
“You start sipping every other night if not every night and the physical side effects start to set in. It’s hard to use the bathroom at all because you get mad constipated. The syrup seems to just sit in your body because its much more thicker than average liquids.”
As long as it promoted as a recreational drug, it’s going to be hard for a person to just walk away.
“Cannabis is cool to reference because it has multiple positive health benefits that many people get benefits from, said Radrigo when discussing the impact music has when it comes to making codeine seem like a cool thing to do.
“Marketing a strong substance like it is in music now is disappointing because these artists should know there’s young kids that listen to their music. Every time I hear a song on the radio reference it, it makes me upset because I know how and why I started and it’s a mind state that’s forced on you and easy to fall and stay in, until it’s too late.”
Elz agrees. The marketing alone is powerful vehicle and the terrors of what longtime use could do hasn’t fully kicked in yet.
“I think at this point though people have to know, but it goes back to what I was saying, you never think it’ll happen to you. You feel like you have it under control.”
What role could music play in combatting the codeine use? Can music really be the blame for promoting codeine use? Watching Tony Montana snort a mountain of coke didn’t make me want to follow suit.
Tomorrow we speak to artists who feel that rap is getting bad rap when it comes to codeine use in today’s society. Great American Lean Part 3, we speak to several rappers from Texas about blues music, Dj Screw and how they feel mainstream media has hijacked what was part of their culture.