The C-Section: Student Health Center now prescribing 'purple drank'

"I don't care if it's heroin in my cup. It's in my cup. F!#% you." — Lil' Wayne.

Along with many other reasonably intelligent rappers, Wayne has brought a new pimp cup into the limelight in the last decade. Stars like Lil' Wayne, Three 6 Mafia and Lil' Boosie have even been seen publicly carrying their new, trendy white Styrofoam cups filled with their new favorite concoction. 

And it seems the main ingredient of this mixture has grown out of celebrity status into students' hands at the University.

But just what is the main ingredient of Weezy's favorite drink? You guessed it. Promethazine with codeine.

If you don't know what promethazine (Phenergan, "purple drank," "sizzurp" or "lean") is, it is a non-narcotic prescription cough and nausea medication combined with codeine — an opiate. When consumed, it not only alleviates cough and nausea, but produces a sense of drowsiness and an opiate- induced euphoria.

Oh, and codeine is also a Schedule II narcotic with a "high potential for abuse," according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

So just how is this super syrup getting on campus?

Is the beloved Weezy F Baby dealing it out of his tour bus?

Of course not. Wayne is in jail where he belongs. The precious syrup is coming from a place all too familiar to any student who has been sick.

It is coming from the Student Health Center.

With that said, I'm not about to bash the Student Health Center and ruin your connection, nor do I really care that the stuff is floating around campus. I just find a level of irony in the whole situation.

And the Health Center is not blind to the amount.

"[The Student Health Center is] aware of a growing trend of students abusing prescription medication," Julie Hupperich, associate director of the SHC, said in an email. She also said the abuse is not the fault of "[the Student Health Center's] clinicians' medical expertise or prescribing protocol."

Not satisfied, I interviewed 35 students about the matter in the Quad. I was met with people agreeing with the fact promethazine and codeine is prescribed on reasonable terms. Others claimed it's possible to acquire without illness.

Some said "they had no idea" what I was asking about. Others smirked and told me they wouldn't comment because of the nature of the subject. And one said, "Dude, I need to get to the frat house."

One student agreed with Hupperich's statements. Lauren Thibault, mass communication sophomore, said she was prescribed "antibiotics, steroids and promethazine for a ‘hacking' cough" she had during the spring 2010 semester. Sounds reasonable.

But some students disagree.

Ryan Williams, graphic design sophomore, claims he has heard "[the syrup] is easy to get at the Student Health Center."

Ben Cicero, English senior, stated he "met a guy at a party who was drinking ‘lean' he got by telling the Health Center he smoked too many cigarettes during exam week and got sick."

And to top it off, a former student who wished to remain anonymous told me, "I smoked a bunch of ciggies, told the doctor I was sick and got a big ole bottle from the Student Health Center."