Macklemore (Cough Syrup, Otherside)

[FantaSauce]

Recently i've been listening to a lot of Macklemores music and i keep Otherside on repeat today, I was wondering what is the drug that most people get addicted to in cough syrup? If anyone knows or has any experience looking to investigate it more.

Thanks

[Adam17]

It's dxm

[Mzor203]

It's dxm

This is correct, and to give a little bit more information, DXM is not a physically addictive substance. Psychological addiction is possible as with anything in the world, but even so I'd go as far as to say less likely with DXM simply because it's a weird and fickle drug that a lot of people don't even like the effects of. It's much more likely in the case of addiction that someone is addicted to getting fucked up in general, which is a separate issue entirely that would exist whether or not DXM was part of the equation.

Now, please note with this next little section of my post that I am NOT trying to encourage drug use of any kind for anybody. That said, DXM is a legal drug in most of the world and can be purchased OTC from almost any store in North America, and I am going to try to give a little bit information on SAFE DXM usage for those who have already made up their minds.

As I said previously DXM is a bit of a weird drug, and it gets a bad reputation simply because of its ease of access, which leads to a lot of stupid people/immature teenagers slamming cough syrup and getting fucked without doing their research. It is a legitimate drug, though, that gives a legitimate high/trip that's a bit similar to psychadelic drugs. That said there are quite a few differences as well, and differences that are important to note.

It's a dissociative drug that shares some common ground with PCP, which most will know from horror stories of people performing insane feats of strength or self-mutilation, such as the classic man walking down the street after pulling his own teeth out with a pair of pliers, or the guy in the McDonalds who takes a dozen policemen to subdue. DXM isn't as dangerous as PCP, though, and I'd even argue PCP is a bit blown out of proportion. That said, you still need to be careful with it because at very high doses you will completely lose reality.

There are four "plateaus" depending on the dosage you decide to take. You can search around online for information on dosing, and please do before you take it. The plateaus all have their own characteristics and it's actually pretty interesting how much the effects differ between doses. The first plateau is pretty light, I generally just feel a buzz like I've had a couple drinks, but also feel a bit more focused and have mild euphoria when something good happens.

Second plateau you have the effects of the first, but stronger, as well as visual distortion. Visuals seem to be a bit different for everyone when you get to this point, but for me generally things "seem" different in an unexplainable way (this is likely a property of the dissociative effects of the drug), and if I stop moving my eyes and focus in a general area, shit gets crazy. Things melt and start looking like paintings. The first time I ever experienced visual effects from anything was when I took a second-plateau dose of DXM, and I was looking out across the street at the woods, and after a minute I realized that it looked like I was in a Van Gogh painting.

Overall the second plateau feels like taking a small dose (1g-ish) of psilocybin mushrooms, with a few extra fun things thrown in. If you get to the higher range of the second plateau, dissociative effects definitely are present. It can sometimes feel like you're watching yourself do everything from outside your body, which is a bit of a weird feeling and sometimes a bit hard to even pin down. Also, note that once you're into the second plateau is when your ability to function in normal situations goes down the shitter. You'll talk like you're drunk, you'll feel like you're in zero gravity except still attached to the ground, which makes walking weird and tricky sometimes, and you will be paranoid that everyone can tell you're on drugs, which will, ironically, lead to you acting very much like you're on drugs. This will not be a problem if you're in the company of good people, but that goes for just about any dissociative/psychadelic trip.

Third and fourth plateau are a bit similar, although from experience I can only really tell you about the lower half of the third. At the lower half it might still be possible to talk to people, although about as much as someone blackout drunk would be able to. It's probably the safest bet to simply lay in bed and experience your trip once you go to third or fourth plateau, because that's when you start hallucinating and losing touch with reality. Realistically you could probably do such a trip alone but I would never, personally, without someone 100% sober with you, because your mind will not be your own. There's not much more to say about going this far with DXM because you just get fucked at this point.

If you're going to take DXM make sure you plan carefully around it. The trip lasts 6-8 hours generally if you're taking DXM HBr (Hydrobromide) which I've found is the most common form. There is another which I don't know the name of off the top of my head, but it's a timed-release version so it lasts longer and takes longer to come up. For HBr it takes about 2-3 hours for effects to reach their peak, for first and second plateau doses. If it is legal for you to smoke where you live, a bit of marijuana right before you take your DXM makes for a very, very nice comeup, and can help with nausea that can arise if your source is OTC medication. Even so, be aware that if you're going for higher doses, you may throw up. I personally haven't because I have a ridiculously strong stomach and haven't puked since I was like... 14, but I do know that no matter how you cut it, ingesting a bottle of cough syrup is very unpleasant and anything you can do to take the edge off that is wonderful.

If you buy DXM in OTC medications, MAKE ABSOLUTE SURE that the ONLY active ingredient is Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide (HBr). If it has another medical ingredient like acetaminophen and you take a lot you're probably going to just die and forever be known as that guy that overdosed and killed himself on cold medication. So when you pick up that bottle, verify that the only active ingredient is DXM, and then find the list of non-medical ingredients. Go through them and verify that all of them are safe in larger quantities. Start with a lower dose (this is general wisdom for trying any drug) for your first time. The good news is after you've found a good and safe source of DXM, it's not going to change. You'll never have to worry about it being cut with anything, the dosages will always be perfect, there's simply no guesswork involved with it.

A few other miscellaneous notes I couldn't really throw in anywhere else:



It's hard to sleep even when coming down on DXM, in my experience. I don't know if that's the case with everyone but just realize it's a possibility.

If you have responsible usage, there's unlikely going to be any side effects, but as with any drug be careful and stop using it the moment ANYTHING goes wrong, or you notice even the smallest adverse effects.

In regards to what responsible usage is, if you're sticking with second plateau experiences you're probably even good if you take it as often as a week, but I would suggest no more than once every other at max. 8 hours of being fucked up is a pretty large percentage of your waking hours every week, which I just don't think would be good for your mental health. Everyone's different, though.

Set aside your dose of DXM and lock the rest up before starting your adventure. Getting carried away with it is way too possible, especially since the effects take so long to kick in. It is so easy to just keep taking more because you're not feeling it.


I hope this is of some use to someone. Again, it is not my intention here to advocate illegal drug use, or even drug use in general, but some people are simply going to do it, so why not at least give them the tools they need to do it safely.

TL;DR Summary (Though seriously read it all if you plan on taking DXM at all)


DXM is found in a lot of cough syrups. It is a dissociative that feels somewhat like a psychadelic like psilocybin mushrooms (shrooms) or lysergic acid (LSD/Acid or LSD). It is a legitimate drug that can even be more powerful than Acid/shrooms.

There are four plateaus with varying effects ranging from mild buzz to full on loss of reality.

Dosage varies by person, there is information online which will give more information.

Effects can vary a lot from person to person. Responsible use includes starting small to see how it effects you.

Every medication that contains DXM has different other products mixed in that may have adverse effects. Product which contain only the active ingredient Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide are generally safe as long as all of their non-medicinal ingredients are safe for consumption in larger quantities. Also, make sure to math out how much you're taking. If 1 tsp (5 ml) of cough syrup contains 15 mg of DXM, then a 100 ml bottle will have 300 mg DXM.

The trip generally lasts 6-8 hours, with peaks effects hitting after 3 hours and lasting for a 2-3 after that. The comeup is very slow and gradual.


Also, as a final note, for some credibility I have taken DXM on a fair amount of occasions at various doses ranging from 1st plateau to lower 3rd. As a disclaimer, I have no medical experience, and before taking any drug, including DXM, do your own research, and if possible have someone on hand that has done the drug before.

[Sordid Saint]

Even though the post above me is helpful and a great post, it is not what he is talking about in the song. He is talking about prescription cough syrup which contains promethazine and codeine. Prometh is basically the same as DXM, which is why the post above me is very helpful, but the main reason why people drink it is for the codeine, which is a weak opiate (opiates being things like oxy, vicodin, heroin, etc.), and the drug in lean that people get addicted to. This is the reason people can die when they drink it, because it is easy to overdose on opiates. I myself have experienced this twice, but not off of codeine. I didn't die btw lol.

I've drank both DXM cough syrup and prometh/codeine cough syrup plenty of times and they are very different. DXM is more of a dissociative, like ketamine and PCP. At the highest dose I've done, I was having some open eye visuals and the closed eye visuals were unreal. As I was looking out my skylight window above my bed, the moon started rolling around in the sky and growing/shrinking, and then I fully lost it and started floating up toward the moon (which was the center of my experience the whole time). While this happened, I couldn't remember if my eyes were open or shut. I didn't even feel like I was in my body. The sky was suddenly full of stars that were swirling around me at insane speed, and there were unexplainable objects just floating around me. It wasn't so much like LSD or any research chemicals that I've done, like the post above me said. It wasn't even like psilocybin. The only thing to compare it to is other dissociatives. At lower doses, you get the robo-walk which feels like you're sticking to the ground, limbs are much heavier, dissociation may start to come into play and you could start feeling like you aren't in your body anymore, like you are looking at it from above. But enough about DXM. I feel like the post above already put enough information about it.

Prometh/Codeine cough syrup feels much different. Way more like an opiate. Which I have much much much experience in. It feels warm, the warmth will spread from the chest/stomach out to the fingertips and toes, at least for me. Everything is just perfect. I don't care about what's going on outside my field of view while I am on opiates. Not really that I don't care about it, it's just not on my mind. There are no worries. Opiates give people the "nod" which is when they fall asleep and wake up, fall asleep, wake up, fall asleep, wake up. No matter where they are. It feels insanely good and sometimes I start to have dream like visions while I'm nodding. There's not really much to opiates like there is to DXM, it just feels really good.

Please do not go out doing either of these drugs. I have been using opiates now for too long and my tolerance to them only goes up, leading me on to harder forms of it. The sickness from the withdrawals are wicked bad. Like a fever, throwing up, headaches, runny nose, diarrhea, pain everywhere, and you sweat like a mofo. It's not fun. Once you do opiates it locks you in. It just feels that good, but I am telling you it's not worth it. It is a black hole and I've lost a couple friends to them. And I've burned many bridges because of them. I've overdosed myself on them even though I was lucky enough to live through it. I shouldn't have been.

[Mzor203]

Haha, oops, I guess prescription cough medicine didn't even cross my mind since I've never done opiates... probably should have listened to the song before commenting. =P

Also,

It wasn't so much like LSD or any research chemicals that I've done, like the post above me said. It wasn't even like psilocybin. The only thing to compare it to is other dissociatives.

I've always found low doses of shrooms (1g-ish) and DXM (first plateau) are pretty similar in effects, although that's just me and goes to show how differently DXM can be even from trip to trip, even while maintaining the same effects.

[FantaSauce]

Thanks very much for this info, I had no intention of taking it, It just peaked my interest and I know about Codeine and have been on it before because it is a very good painkiller.

Also how the first Post talks about experiencing everything from outside your body, I know exactly what that feels like and it sucks. I have it with my ADHD medication and the side effects from that are crazy. It's why i try my best not to take them.

But thank you both for your contributions, This is very helpful!

[Sti kid]

This is correct, and to give a little bit more information, DXM is not a physically addictive substance. Psychological addiction is possible as with anything in the world, but even so I'd go as far as to say less likely with DXM simply because it's a weird and fickle drug that a lot of people don't even like the effects of. It's much more likely in the case of addiction that someone is addicted to getting fucked up in general, which is a separate issue entirely that would exist whether or not DXM was part of the equation.

Now, please note with this next little section of my post that I am NOT trying to encourage drug use of any kind for anybody. That said, DXM is a legal drug in most of the world and can be purchased OTC from almost any store in North America, and I am going to try to give a little bit information on SAFE DXM usage for those who have already made up their minds.

As I said previously DXM is a bit of a weird drug, and it gets a bad reputation simply because of its ease of access, which leads to a lot of stupid people/immature teenagers slamming cough syrup and getting fucked without doing their research. It is a legitimate drug, though, that gives a legitimate high/trip that's a bit similar to psychadelic drugs. That said there are quite a few differences as well, and differences that are important to note.

It's a dissociative drug that shares some common ground with PCP, which most will know from horror stories of people performing insane feats of strength or self-mutilation, such as the classic man walking down the street after pulling his own teeth out with a pair of pliers, or the guy in the McDonalds who takes a dozen policemen to subdue. DXM isn't as dangerous as PCP, though, and I'd even argue PCP is a bit blown out of proportion. That said, you still need to be careful with it because at very high doses you will completely lose reality.

There are four "plateaus" depending on the dosage you decide to take. You can search around online for information on dosing, and please do before you take it. The plateaus all have their own characteristics and it's actually pretty interesting how much the effects differ between doses. The first plateau is pretty light, I generally just feel a buzz like I've had a couple drinks, but also feel a bit more focused and have mild euphoria when something good happens.

Second plateau you have the effects of the first, but stronger, as well as visual distortion. Visuals seem to be a bit different for everyone when you get to this point, but for me generally things "seem" different in an unexplainable way (this is likely a property of the dissociative effects of the drug), and if I stop moving my eyes and focus in a general area, shit gets crazy. Things melt and start looking like paintings. The first time I ever experienced visual effects from anything was when I took a second-plateau dose of DXM, and I was looking out across the street at the woods, and after a minute I realized that it looked like I was in a Van Gogh painting.

Overall the second plateau feels like taking a small dose (1g-ish) of psilocybin mushrooms, with a few extra fun things thrown in. If you get to the higher range of the second plateau, dissociative effects definitely are present. It can sometimes feel like you're watching yourself do everything from outside your body, which is a bit of a weird feeling and sometimes a bit hard to even pin down. Also, note that once you're into the second plateau is when your ability to function in normal situations goes down the shitter. You'll talk like you're drunk, you'll feel like you're in zero gravity except still attached to the ground, which makes walking weird and tricky sometimes, and you will be paranoid that everyone can tell you're on drugs, which will, ironically, lead to you acting very much like you're on drugs. This will not be a problem if you're in the company of good people, but that goes for just about any dissociative/psychadelic trip.

Third and fourth plateau are a bit similar, although from experience I can only really tell you about the lower half of the third. At the lower half it might still be possible to talk to people, although about as much as someone blackout drunk would be able to. It's probably the safest bet to simply lay in bed and experience your trip once you go to third or fourth plateau, because that's when you start hallucinating and losing touch with reality. Realistically you could probably do such a trip alone but I would never, personally, without someone 100% sober with you, because your mind will not be your own. There's not much more to say about going this far with DXM because you just get fucked at this point.

If you're going to take DXM make sure you plan carefully around it. The trip lasts 6-8 hours generally if you're taking DXM HBr (Hydrobromide) which I've found is the most common form. There is another which I don't know the name of off the top of my head, but it's a timed-release version so it lasts longer and takes longer to come up. For HBr it takes about 2-3 hours for effects to reach their peak, for first and second plateau doses. If it is legal for you to smoke where you live, a bit of marijuana right before you take your DXM makes for a very, very nice comeup, and can help with nausea that can arise if your source is OTC medication. Even so, be aware that if you're going for higher doses, you may throw up. I personally haven't because I have a ridiculously strong stomach and haven't puked since I was like... 14, but I do know that no matter how you cut it, ingesting a bottle of cough syrup is very unpleasant and anything you can do to take the edge off that is wonderful.

If you buy DXM in OTC medications, MAKE ABSOLUTE SURE that the ONLY active ingredient is Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide (HBr). If it has another medical ingredient like acetaminophen and you take a lot you're probably going to just die and forever be known as that guy that overdosed and killed himself on cold medication. So when you pick up that bottle, verify that the only active ingredient is DXM, and then find the list of non-medical ingredients. Go through them and verify that all of them are safe in larger quantities. Start with a lower dose (this is general wisdom for trying any drug) for your first time. The good news is after you've found a good and safe source of DXM, it's not going to change. You'll never have to worry about it being cut with anything, the dosages will always be perfect, there's simply no guesswork involved with it.

A few other miscellaneous notes I couldn't really throw in anywhere else:



It's hard to sleep even when coming down on DXM, in my experience. I don't know if that's the case with everyone but just realize it's a possibility.

If you have responsible usage, there's unlikely going to be any side effects, but as with any drug be careful and stop using it the moment ANYTHING goes wrong, or you notice even the smallest adverse effects.

In regards to what responsible usage is, if you're sticking with second plateau experiences you're probably even good if you take it as often as a week, but I would suggest no more than once every other at max. 8 hours of being fucked up is a pretty large percentage of your waking hours every week, which I just don't think would be good for your mental health. Everyone's different, though.

Set aside your dose of DXM and lock the rest up before starting your adventure. Getting carried away with it is way too possible, especially since the effects take so long to kick in. It is so easy to just keep taking more because you're not feeling it.


I hope this is of some use to someone. Again, it is not my intention here to advocate illegal drug use, or even drug use in general, but some people are simply going to do it, so why not at least give them the tools they need to do it safely.

TL;DR Summary (Though seriously read it all if you plan on taking DXM at all)


DXM is found in a lot of cough syrups. It is a dissociative that feels somewhat like a psychadelic like psilocybin mushrooms (shrooms) or lysergic acid (LSD/Acid or LSD). It is a legitimate drug that can even be more powerful than Acid/shrooms.

There are four plateaus with varying effects ranging from mild buzz to full on loss of reality.

Dosage varies by person, there is information online which will give more information.

Effects can vary a lot from person to person. Responsible use includes starting small to see how it effects you.

Every medication that contains DXM has different other products mixed in that may have adverse effects. Product which contain only the active ingredient Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide are generally safe as long as all of their non-medicinal ingredients are safe for consumption in larger quantities. Also, make sure to math out how much you're taking. If 1 tsp (5 ml) of cough syrup contains 15 mg of DXM, then a 100 ml bottle will have 300 mg DXM.

The trip generally lasts 6-8 hours, with peaks effects hitting after 3 hours and lasting for a 2-3 after that. The comeup is very slow and gradual.


Also, as a final note, for some credibility I have taken DXM on a fair amount of occasions at various doses ranging from 1st plateau to lower 3rd. As a disclaimer, I have no medical experience, and before taking any drug, including DXM, do your own research, and if possible have someone on hand that has done the drug before.

both of you are completely wrong and are clueless about this topic. the song other side is about promethazine/codeine syrup. not the stupid dextromethorphen (wrong spelling) otc meds (over the counter) prometh/codeine is commenly known as sizzurp and it requires a prescription

[FantaSauce]

This was described by the second person, The first person misunderstood but the effects are similar. Please read the whole thing first. They are both amazingly well written posts and yours is lackluster.