Drank found, imbibed

After reading a AV Club review, I was interested in trying Drank but none of the three non-chain convenience stores in my immediate area had it. Sure, it's distributed out of Houston but my neighborhood was not exactly ground central for screw hip-hop. Then one day I went into a store and there it was. I was way too excited about the purchase and considered drinking a can right then just to take the edge off.

Wait, let's establish some background. A Houston guy named DJ Screw invented a style of hip-hop called screw that slowed down and chopped up the music. Purple drank (or oil or syrup or any of the other names for it) was the drug of choice to accompany the music. Cough syrup containing codeine and promethazine is mixed with Sprite or what have you. Adding Jolly Ranchers is optional, that's how Oscar-winners Three 6 Mafia liked it ("Rainbow Colors", thanks Wikipedia). Codeine is a narcotic and promethazine is an antihistamine mostly used to combat nausea and as a cough suppressant. It also causes drowsiness. So, drink drank and feel kind of drunk, get a lean going. Oh, and DJ Screw and several other musicians closely identified with screw probably died from complications associated with consuming purple stuff.

Drank is marketed as an "anti-energy," completely legal version that will "slow your roll." Instead of prescription medications, the active ingredients are valerian, rose hips, and melatonin. It tastes like carbonated grape Kool-Aid and I can report that it does indeed make one sleepy. Both times I drank Drank, it was in the morning when it was time for me to go to bed (I work night shift remember) and I wasn't particularly tired. Drank worked to send me off to sleep.

The can lists the amount of valerian, rose hips, and melatonin it contains but of course as herbal preparations, there's no standard dosages for them. Oddly, Drank also contains 100% of the recommended daily value of B vitamins, something usually in energy drinks because they supposedly make people feel more alert. Even if that were true (I have my doubts, though not enough interest to research this, sorry), 100% of a vitamin isn't going to have powerful effects. On the down side, Drank is loaded with high fructose corn syrup.

Sadly, the store I bought it from no longer stocks it. I'll endeavor to find another source so that I might bring some on a certain camping trip coming up soon.