Liquid Heroin | What Is Liquid Heroin And How Is It Used?

Liquid heroin can come in a few different forms. The term “liquid heroin” can refer either to lean, which is a concoction of heroin with other drugs, or to a liquid form of black tar heroin. This is a less common form of using heroin, though it has gained popularity in recent years. Liquid heroin is usually stored and sold in small eye droppers. This makes liquid heroin difficult to detect as compared to other forms of the drug.

Heroin can also be smoked, snorted, or injected. With injection, the drug is melted down to liquid form and then drawn into a syringe. Liquid heroin differs from the liquid form of injected heroin in that it’s typically snorted, not injected.

Learn more about the different types of heroin

Liquid Heroin May Refer To A Codeine Drug Cocktail

Lean (also called purple drank, sizzurp, barre, and Texas tea) may refer to a form of liquid heroin. It’s a sort of codeine drug cocktail made from a concoction of cough syrup, soda, and hard candy. Those who use lean may call the concoction liquid heroin.

When the ingredients are mixed together, lean can create a sense of euphoria, drowsiness, and intense relaxation, effects similar to heroin.

Liquid Heroin May Refer To Black Tar Heroin

Some also refer to liquid heroin as black tar, a form of heroin that’s dark in color and sticky like roofing tar, or hard like coal. The black color comes from crude and impure processing. Because of this, those who use black tar heroin usually dissolve and filter the drug before injecting it into the body.

This form of heroin can either be injected or smoked. Though snorting black tar is possible, it’s not as common as other methods.

Who Uses Liquid Heroin?

Various forms of heroin are being used in growing numbers by younger demographics. Lean liquid heroin is a popular recreational drug among teens and young adults. Many abuse lean because they believe prescription drugs are safer than illicit drugs, but high amounts of codeine can lead to serious effects like a slowed heart rate and breathing issues.

How Liquid Heroin Came To The U.S.

Black tar is primarily produced in Mexico. Because of its proximity to Mexico, the western part of the U.S. sees a majority of black tar use. It’s also been produced and exported by South American and Asian countries. Because black tar is much lower in purity than powder heroin, commonly produced in Afghanistan, it’s much cheaper to buy.

As more people began to discover this cheap form of heroin, production and distribution from Mexico to the U.S. skyrocketed.

Effects Of Lean Liquid Heroin

Lean is a codeine-based cocktail of prescription cough syrup, soda, and hard candy, and produces effects similar to other opioids: euphoria, drowsiness, and intense relaxation. Milder side effects include nausea, dizziness, impaired vision, memory loss, and shortness of breath, while higher doses can trigger seizures, hallucinations, respiratory depression, brain damage, and cardiac arrest.

Adding alcohol to the mix makes lean significantly more dangerous, compounding the sedative effects of codeine in ways that can rapidly escalate from drowsiness to overdose. Despite being perceived as safer than illicit drugs because it involves prescription cough syrup, lean carries serious and potentially fatal risks, particularly among the teens and young adults.

Effects Of Black Tar Liquid Heroin

Black tar has the highest potential for medical complications because of its impurities.

Serious complications and health risks with using black tar liquid heroin include:

• addiction
• overdose
• brain damage
• depression
• heart infection
• insomnia
• liver and kidney disease

Though it can produce a number of heroin-like short-term effects that a person might be looking for, there is a major risk of long-term damage.

Treatment Options For Liquid Heroin Use

Below are some of the treatment services commonly used for heroin addiction.

Treatment options may include:

• intensive outpatient treatment, an outpatient program that allows you to remain at home while receiving treatment
• partial hospitalization program, a high-intensity outpatient treatment program
• inpatient rehab program, a full-time treatment option for those who would like 24-hour care
• medication-assisted treatment (MAT), a medically-based program that uses medications such as Suboxone or methadone to treat the symptoms of withdrawal
• dual diagnosis treatment for co-occurring mental health disorders
• cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)

For more information about heroin addiction treatment centers, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) or browse our directory.