Lets explore just how deep this rabbit hole goes!!
You've heard the rhetoric and read the headlines, Trayvon Martin killed for being armed with Skittles and iced tea. You've probably even heard that Trayvon was stalked by Zimmerman, who gunned him down for the heinous crime of walking while black. All claims that persist to this day despite the fact that eye witnesses put Trayvon on top of Zimmerman pummeling him MMA style.
If the eye witness accounts about Trayvon attacking Zimmerman are true, what motivation would he have to do so? Many suggest anger over being followed by Zimmerman, something Trayvon's girl friend states Trayvon was worried about while talking to her on the phone that night. Others have suggested Trayvon may have been on drugs, however, even though drug tests revealed Trayvon had recently used marijuana, no one really believes that would cause the paranoid and violent behavior he committed that night according to Zimmerman's version of the events.
If the eye witness accounts about Trayvon attacking Zimmerman are true, what motivation would he have to do so? Many suggest anger over being followed by Zimmerman, something Trayvon's girl friend states Trayvon was worried about while talking to her on the phone that night. Others have suggested Trayvon may have been on drugs, however, even though drug tests revealed Trayvon had recently used marijuana, no one really believes that would cause the paranoid and violent behavior he committed that night according to Zimmerman's version of the events.
To this day, Skittles and iced tea still serve as symbols of predjudice because of Trayvon's shooting. Some schools have even gone so far as to hold Trayvon Martin Day and hand out Skittles to kids and tea to parents for attending special events. But, as you are about to see, Trayvon Martin having Skittles and iced tea may reveal a lot more about the events of that night than anyone ever thought.
Early I mentioned the need for Trayvon Martin to feel sufficiently paranoid to lash out violently in the way Zimmerman and eye witnesses claim. This is important because a street drug that is popular in the young urban community known as Purple Drank or Lean produces those very side effects.
Purple Drank or Lean is a coctail that is created by mixing Robitussin or other over-the-counter cough medicines with, you guessed it, Skittles and Arizona Watermelon Juice, the flavor of tea Trayvon Martin was carrying that night.
Purple Drank also goes by other street names such as sizzurp, lean, syrup, sip sip, drank, barre, purple jelly and Texas tea. It has opiate like effects. Some of its side effects include confusion, agitation, and hallucinations among others.
Recoverycorp.org describes the drugs popularity in the hip hop community:
Purple drank grew out of the underground Houston hip-hop community in the 1990s along with chopped and screwed rap music—a slowed down, remixing of rap songs using skipped beats and scratching. DJ Screw aka Robert Earl Davis Jr. is said to have originated the style of the slow chopped and screwed, which compliments purple drank's effects of relaxing the user.
DJ Screw died in 2000 of a codeine overdose. That same year, Three 6 Mafia's song "Sippin' on Some Syrup" made purple drank mainstream. The group's song "Rainbow Colors" is about adding Jolly Rancher candy to create the desired rainbow.
Around this same time, evidence of purple drank began showing up across the South from Lafayette, Louisiana to Pensacola, FL.
In a 2004 University of Texas survey, according to a USA Today article, "8.3% of Texas secondary students reported having taken enough codeine syrup to get high."
Terrence Kiel, a defensive back with the San Diego Chargers was arrested in 2006 for illegally shipping cases of prescription cough syrup to Texas.
In a 2008 MTV interview with Lil Wayne, the rapper discusses his addiction to purple drink, and how hard it is to get off it, saying it feels like "death in your stomach."
It is unknown whether the autopsy performed on Trayvon Martin looked for or found elevated levels of cough syrup in his blood.
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