Codeine - Usage Trends

Usage Trends

The continued research on opiates, both natural and syntheticMade in a laboratory., has produced a new generation of pain-fighting drugs that are related to but more powerful than codeine. Brand-name pills such as Percocet, Percodan, and OxyContin contain oxycodone, which is synthesized from thebaine. (An entry on oxycodone is available in this encyclopedia.) Hydrocodone, another relative of codeine, is six times stronger than codeine and can be found in generic form or in brand-name pills such as Vicodin, Lortab, and Lorcet.

According to a 2003 online report by the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), abuse of prescription painkillers "has risen dramatically in the U.S. Of particular concern is the abuse of pain medications containing opiates." Unlike club drugs or designer drugsHarmful and addictive substances that are manufactured illegally in homemade labs., opiates can be obtained from a doctor legally. This has led to addiction among senior citizens, who sometimes fail to understand the dosage directions, as well as upper- and middle-class users of any age who would tend to shun illegal street drugs. Celebrities such as political commentator Rush Limbaugh and comedian George Carlin have made the news for undergoing treatment for prescription opiate addiction.

In Houston, Texas, an entire culture has sprung up around cough syrup abuse, including a type of rap music called screw. Chris Coxwell/Corbis.
In Houston, Texas, an entire culture has sprung up around cough syrup abuse, including a type of rap music called "screw." © Chris Coxwell/Corbis.

Although prescription opiate abuse is rising, the trend of codeine abuse, in particular, fell more than 60 percent between 1994 and 2001, according to the 2003 DAWN Report. Because codeine is dispensed most commonly in combination with other agents, it is less likely to be a drug of choice for an abuser, particularly if that abuser can obtain OxyContin, Vicodin, or other stronger medications.

In certain regions of the United States, however, codeine abuse continues to be a problem. In Houston, Texas, an entire culture has sprung up around cough syrup abuse, including a type of rap music called "screw." In this type of rap, songs are re-mixed, slowed down, and chopped to sound like a skipped recording. One of the pioneers of screw musicAn engineered music inspired by codeine use that uses existing songs but slows them down and makes certain segments repetitive., Robert Davis Jr. (1971–2000), also known as DJ Screw, died of a codeine overdose at his recording studio.

The popularity of screw music—and cough syrup abuse—is reported to be spreading across the southern United States. Kristen Mack noted in the Houston Chronicle that a Memphis, Tennessee-based rap group, Three 6 Mafia, had a locally popular single called "Sippin on Syrup." Mack wrote that in 2001, Houston-area "police confiscated 125 gallons of illegal codeine. Each year, they say, they encounter more abuse and more people coming to Houston looking for 'syrup.'… Everyone agrees that Houston is ground zero for this 'quiet epidemic."'

Cough syrup with codeine is more readily available in Texas because codeine is sold in small quantities over-the-counter in Mexico. Smugglers stockpile as many doses as they can, take them across the Mexican-U.S. border, and sell them on the street. Mack reported that in 2002, eight ounces of cough syrup could fetch $200 on the black marketThe illegal sale or trade of goods; drug dealers are said to carry out their business on the black market.. Users typically mix the medication with soft drinks or alcohol.