Cloud N9ne syrup is a popular drink additive that originated in Houston, Texas. It’s often described as a “syrup drug” and is used to make mixed drinks have a more intense, psychedelic effect. The main active ingredient in Cloud N9ne is dextromethorphan, also known as DXM. DXM is an over-the-counter cough suppressant that acts as a dissociative hallucinogen in higher doses. When consumed in large amounts, Cloud N9ne syrup produces effects similar to ketamine or PCP due to the high levels of DXM. Other ingredients like promethazine and codeine contribute to the drink’s sedative and euphoric effects. Cloud N9ne is comparable to “lean,” also known as purple drank, which combines prescription cough syrup containing codeine and promethazine with soda. However, the inclusion of DXM gives Cloud N9ne more intense, hallucinogenic properties. The syrup has developed a cult following in the hip hop community and beyond for its potent recreational effects. However, it also carries serious health risks due to its combination of active substances.
What are the origins and history of Cloud N9ne?
Cloud N9ne syrup first emerged in Houston’s hip hop scene in the early 2000s. Houston rappers began promoting the recreational use of prescription cough syrup mixed with soda during the 1990s. This “lean” concoction quickly rose to popularity for its dissociative and euphoric effects. Cloud N9ne built on this trend by incorporating high levels of DXM into the syrup recipe. The inclusion of DXM transformed lean from a depressant brew to a psychedelic drink with dissociative, hallucinogenic properties. The name Cloud N9ne comes from the slang term “cloud nine” meaning to feel elated or blissfully happy. The “N9ne” spelling adds Texan flair and connects the brand to Houston’s chopped and screwed hip hop style. Cloud N9ne was originally produced and distributed locally in Houston. But over the years, its popularity has spread beyond Texas through rap lyrics, music videos, social media, and word of mouth. However, Cloud N9ne occupies a legal gray area because of the massive doses of DXM in each bottle. This forces the syrup to remain part of the black market drug trade.
What are the main active ingredients in Cloud N9ne?
The core active ingredients in Cloud N9ne are:
– Dextromethorphan (DXM): This over-the-counter cough suppressant produces dissociative, hallucinogenic effects in large doses. A single serving of Cloud N9ne contains about 488mg of DXM, well beyond the recommended dosage.
– Promethazine: An antihistamine that enhances the drink’s sedating effects. It’s also used to treat motion sickness.
– Codeine: An opiate narcotic that contributes to Cloud N9ne’s euphoric high.
Some other variants also include:
– Hydrocodone: A stronger opiate painkiller and cough suppressant.
– Doxylamine succinate: An antihistamine with additional sedative effects.
– Karo corn syrup: Used to sweeten and thicken the mixture.
The combination of high levels of DXM along with promethazine produces an intense high with psychedelic dissociation and hallucinations. Codeine adds relaxing, pain-relieving euphoria. When taken in excess, this mixture carries severe health hazards including overdose.
What are the intended effects of drinking Cloud N9ne?
Cloud N9ne drinkers are seeking an array of recreational effects by combining massive doses of DXM with other ingredients like promethazine and codeine. Here are some of the desired effects:
– Dissociative hallucinations: The DXM creates sensory distortions, feelings of detachment from one’s body and mind, and visions or alternate realities.
– Relaxation and euphoria: Promethazine and codeine produce calm sedation and opiate bliss.
– Enhanced audio: Music may sound deeper, richer, or slower.
– Out of body sensations: Drinkers report feeling like they’re floating outside their bodies.
– Synesthesia: Blending of the senses so you “see” sounds or “hear” colors.
– Improved mood: Users feel blissfully happy and carefree thanks to brain chemicals like serotonin.
Cloud N9ne drinkers chasing these psychedelic highs often consume massive doses far exceeding safe levels. This is what makes the syrup so dangerous despite its supposedly fun, trippy effects.
What are the short-term effects of Cloud N9ne use?
In the short term, Cloud N9ne causes a disorienting array of effects that users find either euphoric or terrifying:
– Double vision, blurred vision, or dilated pupils
– Slurred speech and loss of coordination
– Anxiety, paranoia, confusion
– Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
– Sedation, numbness, analgesia
– Sweating, fever, increased heart rate
– Dissociation from body and environment
– Auditory and visual hallucinations
– Feelings of floating, spinning or flying
– Synesthesia, distorted sense of time
– Impaired motor function, loss of balance
– Euphoria, relaxation, nostalgia
– Out of body experiences
These effects typically last 4-6 hours but can persist for up to a day depending on the dosage consumed. Coming down from a Cloud N9ne high can involve crashes into anxiety, depression, brain fog, and physical exhaustion. Hangovers can linger for 24 hours or more after use.
What are the long-term effects of drinking Cloud N9ne syrup?
Regular use of Cloud N9ne syrup poses a wide array of physical and mental health risks:
| Physical effects | Mental effects |
|---|---|
| – Liver and kidney damage | -Depression |
| -Respiratory issues | – Anxiety |
| – Heart problems | – Psychosis |
| – Seizures | – Delirium |
| – High blood pressure | – Hallucinations |
| – Sexual problems | – Confusion |
| – Tolerance and addiction | – Cognitive deficits |
| – Death at high doses | – Brain damage |
The dextromethorphan in Cloud N9ne syrup is neurotoxic at high doses, damaging parts of the brain that control learning, memory, language, motor skills, and more. The promethazine additive can exacerbate mental health conditions like depression. Excess codeine causes physical dependence and addiction. These substances also interact with one another to produce amplified damage compared to consuming any one ingredient alone. For example, promethazine may inhibit the breakdown of dextromethorphan, causing it to accumulate to unsafe levels in the body.
What are the dangers and risks of abusing Cloud N9ne syrup?
Cloud N9ne poses a high risk for overdose due to its complete lack of regulation or quality control standards. Dangers include:
– **Respiratory depression:** High doses of DXM and codeine depress the central nervous system and breathing. This can lead to coma or death.
– **Seizures:** DXM is a known seizure trigger, especially in combinations with other substances. Seizures can lead to permanent brain injury or death.
– **Hypertension and tachycardia:** Cloud N9ne elevates blood pressure and heart rate to hazardous levels, increasing the risks of stroke, heart attack, and death.
– **Serotonin syndrome:** Too much DXM causesexcess serotonin buildup in the CNS, resulting in fever, confusion, seizures, and muscle breakdown. This is life-threatening.
– **Addiction:** Frequent use leads to physical and psychological dependence. Withdrawal effects are extremely unpleasant.
– **Toxic contaminants:** Illicit manufacturing means no ingredient purity or safety standards. Consumers ingest dangerous contaminants.
– **Unpredictable effects:** Doses vary widely between batches. Effects are radically heightened by combining multiple substances. Overdose can occur easily.
– **Dangerous behaviors:** Cloud N9ne intoxication impairs judgment and coordination. Users engage in reckless behaviors leading to accidental injury or death. Examples include driving under the influence.
Because Cloud N9ne is unregulated and illegally produced, it has an untold number of hazards for users seeking its dissociative highs. The health consequences can be disastrous.
How much DXM is safe to consume at one time?
According to medical experts, there is no truly “safe” recreational dose of dextromethorphan for its dissociative, hallucinogenic effects. Normal therapeutic doses for cough suppression are between 10-30mg. Consuming 120mg or more causes DXM intoxication. Doses above 200mg are considered unsafe:
– 120-200mg = mild hallucinations
– 200-400mg = stronger hallucinations, loss of motor control
– 300-500mg = dissociative sedation and out of body sensations
– 500-1500mg = vivid hallucinations, anesthesia, dangerous respiratory depression
Doses above 500-1000mg per day severely increase health risks like seizures, coma, heart and brain damage, and death. Most Cloud N9ne syrup products deliver around 250-500mg of DXM per serving. Drinking even half a bottle exceeds the maximum safe dosage. Combining cough syrups to get even higher DXM doses is incredibly dangerous.
What should you do if someone overdoses on Cloud N9ne syrup?
Cloud N9ne overdoses require immediate emergency medical care. While waiting for help:
– Keep them awake and keep airways open to prevent choking.
– Turn them on their side if vomiting to avoid aspiration.
– Monitor vital signs like pulse and breathing. Give CPR if needed.
– Keep them cool but don’t over-chill.
– Avoid giving fluids or inducing vomiting unless told to do so by Poison Control.
– Provide details to doctors about what substances were taken in what doses.
– Bring the product’s packaging if available for ingredient details.
– Comfort and try to calm them to avoid accidental self-harm in their confused state.
An overdose can rapidly lead to seizure, coma, respiratory arrest or death without swift treatment. Call emergency services as soon as any overdose is suspected. Overdose is highly likely with Cloud N9ne syrup due to unknown ingredient quantities.
How does codeine contribute to the effects of Cloud N9ne syrup?
Codeine is an opiate narcotic used for treating pain and coughs. In Cloud N9ne syrup, it produces:
– **Pain relief:** Opiates bind to CNS receptors reducing pain sensations.
– **Sedation:** Codeine is clinically used as a cough suppressant due to its powerful sedating properties.
– **Euphoria:** It elevates mood and induces relaxation by activating reward pathways in the brain.
– **Physical dependence:** Regular use leads to withdrawal symptoms when stopped.
– **Respiratory depression:** Slowed breathing is a major hazard during overdose.
Codeine enhances the dissociative stupor caused by high DXM doses. It adds a dreamy, relaxed bliss to heighten Cloud N9ne’s effects. But it also makes this mixture even more dangerous. The codeine, DXM, and promethazine combo depresses the central nervous system in multiple ways, dangerously slowing heart rate and breathing.
Is Cloud N9ne syrup illegal or regulated by the FDA?
While DXM, promethazine, and codeine are legal substances, the way they are manufactured and sold in Cloud N9ne syrup is very illegal. Reasons Cloud N9ne is prohibited:
– **Extremely high DXM doses:** Levels in each bottle vastly exceed safe dosages approved by FDA.
– **Manufactured outside FDA oversight:** Illicit manufacturers have no safety standards or quality control.
– **No prescription:** Codeine and DXM both require a prescription, but Cloud N9ne has none.
– **Not approved for human consumption:** It’s falsely marketed as “herbal” when ingredients are potent scheduled pharmaceuticals.
– **High abuse potential:** Formulation intentionally induces dissociative intoxication, hallucinations, and addiction.
– **Hazardous drug combinations:** Ingredients like DXM and codeine become much more dangerous when mixed.
– **Toxic contaminants:** Illegal manufacturing likely results in contamination.
While advertised as an herbal supplement, Cloud N9ne qualifies as a Schedule III controlled substance due to its high codeine content and extreme dangers. Purchasing or possessing Cloud N9ne syrup is illegal without proper licenses and prescriptions.
Does drinking Cloud N9ne syrup show up on a drug test?
Yes, Cloud N9ne syrup can be detected on certain drug screening tests looking for:
– **Opiates:** Codeine will trigger positive results for opiate drug classes.
– **DXM:** Lower plateaus may register if screening thresholds are low enough.
– **Promethazine:** Rarely screened for specifically, but may contribute to “false positives” for other drug classes.
Urine tests can detect codeine 1-2 days after moderate Cloud N9ne use. Heavy users can test positive for opiates for up to a week later. Blood tests can detect DXM for up to 48 hours after very high doses. Hair tests can detect long-term use for up to 90 days. Pre-employment tests or probation/parole tests may screen and penalize for Cloud N9ne use even in states where it’s recreationally legal, due to its unapproved pharmaceutical ingredients.
Does Cloud N9ne have promethazine like lean syrups do?
Yes, most Cloud N9ne syrups do contain promethazine. Promethazine is an antihistamine and sedative commonly added to prescription strength cough syrups. It enhances the relaxing and mind-altering effects of opioids like codeine. In the context of “lean” and Cloud N9ne syrup, promethazine:
– Augments sedation caused by codeine, resulting in a drowsy, dreamlike state.
– Potentiates or strengthens the euphoric effects of codeine.
– Alleviates the nausea sometimes caused by oral codeine.
– Produces mild dissociative effects at high doses that complement DXM’s hallucinogenic properties.
– Possibly inhibits enzymes that metabolize and breakdown codeine and DXM, causing them to accumulate to higher levels in the body and brain.
So while promethazine has no direct recreational effects alone, it boosts the intoxicating properties of the DXM and codeine in Cloud N9ne syrup. Its inclusion makes Cloud N9ne more hazardous by amplifying the CNS-depressant effects.
Conclusion
Cloud N9ne syrup is a dangerous, unregulated product that combines massive doses of dextromethorphan with codeine and other substances to create a dissociative, hallucinogenic high. But its unpredictable ingredients and effects make Cloud N9ne syrup incredibly hazardous to use, with potentially fatal consequences including seizure, respiratory depression, coma, and death. While the psychedelic effects are superficially tempting, no dose of Cloud N9ne is safe to consume recreationally. This addictive cocktail is illegal for good reason. The risks of permanent health damage or overdose death should make any rational person avoid experimenting with this toxic syrup drug.
