‘Sizzurp’ craze destroys the youth

JOBURG – A homemade drug called ‘Sizzurp’ has become popular among local teenagers around the country. It is known by a number of names by young people of different communities.

Anti-Drug Alliance South Africa chief executive officer, Quintin van Kerken said that the drug comes from the same plant that is used to produce heroin. The side effects include a raspy voice, drowsiness, slower heart rate, slurred speech and lack of coordination. It is also common for users to pass out for prolonged periods. The use of cough syrup that contains codeine produces a feeling of extreme excitement. There is also traces of a drug called promethazine which serves as a sedative.

“The name of the drug changes depending on its geographical location but the common names we have come across are ‘Bennie’, ‘Drank’ and ‘Sizzurp’. We have seen a major spike in the past 12 months of codeine addiction. Two years ago 0.5 percent of patients in our organisation noted codeine addiction. In the month of June, 6 percent of all those in our various programmes nationwide was for codeine, where the highest increase was in Gauteng,” said Van Kerken.

Codeine is a disruptive drug with similar effects to ketamine which causes an out-of-body experience. According to research when young people or users talk about doing it, they refer to it as ‘leaning on syrup’. When you drink it all day it has the same effect as getting drunk and taking too much of it can cause seizures.

Clinix Health Group nursing services manager, Bernadette Campbell said that the legal age for handing out schedule one and two medications, is 14 years old. She believes it is up to parents to monitor and educate their kids about the dangers of this mixture.

“We have not seen any cases yet in Gauteng but would like to pre-warn all schools and parents in advance,” said Campbell.

Anti-Drug Alliance South Africa is an organisation that focusses on several fields in matters related to treatment, testing, advocacy, research and education.

“We urge people who are addicted to it to get help right now. Codeine is incredibly destructive on all levels – our organisation is able to assist with treatment and counselling,” concluded van Kerken.