# Trayvon Martin, cough syrup junkie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 28, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-cough-syrup-junkie/623294 "2012-05-28T00:12:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-cough-syrup-junkie/623294/21 "2012-05-29T05:00:24Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > How is it remotely relevant to the case? > [@Farmer\_Jane](#): > > I guess if Zimmerman saw Martin high off his ass, then Martin would’ve been acting oddly and Zimmerman could’ve been scared. > > I doubt it, though. As an adult who had abused codeine cough syrup a couple of times as a teen, I really, really doubt it. > [@DrDeth](#): > > If Travon was actually high at the time of the encounter? How is that _not_ relevant? > > Mind you, I am not saying I believe he was, but that has to be relevant. 😕 > [@Bricker](#): > > Why? > > “Relevant evidence” means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the ultimate issues more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. > > What fact is determined by this claim, and how does it relate to any of the ultimate issues, such as the elements of the charge against Zimmerman? > [@What\_the](#): > > Relevant in the court of public opinion though don’t you think? It’s not like the whole Trayvon thing has been about the legal process. > [@Lumpy](#): > > The plausibility of Zimmerman’s claim that Martin unprovokedly attacked him. > [@md2000](#): > > And these are what you would buy at the 7-11 down the street in a gated community? Sounds like wishful thinking on someone’s part. > [@jtgain](#): > > Really? I’m not saying that it’s true, but assuming it is, you don’t think it is relevant that Martin was intoxicated on whatever at the time of the altercation? Why are there more fights in bars than in churches? Isn’t it well established that intoxication reduces inhibitions and would give more credence to the idea that Martin attacked Zimmerman as he approached? I think it’s a more than fair inference, again, if true. > [@Magiver](#): > > some of the side effects of the drug in question are excitability and irritability. But it would take a bit of doing to tie it into the case. I suspect it would take corroborated evidence that it affected him in addition to toxicology results. > > Of course, people will always look for an explanation for the continued beating. There appears to be a fair amount of rage involved. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I’m not looking for an explanation, so much as evidence it ever even happened, beyond a self-serving statement by a man accused of murder. > [@Magiver](#): > > we have an eye witness who saw one person on top of another connected with an audio recording of someone screaming for help connected with the conversation between the two of them connected to obvious signs of a beating of one person and the absence of same of the other. It happened. > > Whether Zimmerman did anything culpable has yet to surface. It very well may. I don’t care. Fuck him. But as it stands now he did nothing wrong. > [@BigT](#): > > Should it not also be relevant in whether people believe Zimmerman’s story that he thought the kid was on drugs and this was why he tailed him? Lying by itself may not be enough to decide beyond a reasonable doubt, but it could add up with other factors. It is more common for a guilty person to lie to police, right? [Moderating] Let’s not rehash the case, or debate whether or not the question in the OP is relevant to it. The GQ question on the table, per the OP, is whether or not evidence exists that Martin was getting high on “a homemade mixture based on cough syrup.” Please confine yourselves to that specific question. There are plenty of other threads available to debate the case or the legal issues involved. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-cough-syrup-junkie/623294/22 "2012-05-29T11:52:46Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Okay, looking at the source, he asserts ‘There are your “DXM” ”Watermelon Lean” Ingredients’, with a graphic of Arizona Watermelon Cocktail, Robitussen, and Skittles Candy. > > His source linking the Arizona Watermelon drink to DXM abuse is a six year old posting on a pot enthusiast message board, with the subject being “[Watermelon Drank](http://boards.cannabis.com/cannabis-com-lounge/91450-watermelon-drank.html)”. The OP is pleased to have found a watermelon soda that tastes like watermelon:Since the Arizona Ice Tea company doesn’t sell two-litre bottles, we’re talking about another product entirely, and in a completely innocent context. The only mention of DXM is other posters commenting on the OP’s poor spelling. > > “Skittles”, as mentioned above, is [slang for cough & cold pills](http://www.streetdrugs.org/html%20files/dxm.html). Only Homer Simpson enhances beverages with the actual candy. > > So, do his purchases suggest an intent to get high? _Maybe…_ after all, the beverage is _just like_ the beverage used to make “Purple Drank,” except that’s commonly 7-Up or Sprite, and Skittles are another common ingredient, except not candy Skittles but cough medicine. So, he had all the makings of a drug of abuse… except… well… anything. > > So all that’s left is the DXM references on the Facebook page. Are they real? I notice he linked to [facebook.com](http://facebook.com) to indicate it was the source, but the article is dated long after the Facebook page was taken down - was this conversation ever actually there? Who knows? Even if it was, all it shows is that in the past Trayvon Martin may have abused cough medicine. > > Was he high at the time? It seems very unlikely. Nothing in the toxicology report, and nothing else to suggest he was either. Haven’t read any of Martin’s Facebook, but posters on other sites who have seen Martin’s Facebook and Twitter (pre-hacking) say that there were a few references to DMX, the rapper. It’s very possible that people took this similar combination of letters and ran with it. I’ve seen this kind of misread before with the Casey Anthony case: true crime aficionados on the Internet analyzing the social media sites of Anthony and her friends for insights into what happened, but without any knowledge of youth culture or drug culture. ---
**Author:** ![IntelliQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e99b99/32.png) [@IntelliQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IntelliQ)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-cough-syrup-junkie/623294/23 "2012-05-29T12:58:14Z")
The “reports” that he was high at the time are likely to be false. Ever drink NyQuil or taken codeine? The last thing you want to do is fight. (Personal experience taking both) Some people when they hear the word “drugs involved” immediately link it to hostile, crazy, over the top, behavior - no matter what the actual drug might be. Anyone remember Refer Madness? ---
**Author:** ![IntelliQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e99b99/32.png) [@IntelliQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IntelliQ)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-cough-syrup-junkie/623294/24 "2012-05-29T13:06:42Z")
Oops, missed edit window. _Reefer Madness_ ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-cough-syrup-junkie/623294/25 "2012-05-29T18:16:13Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > This is apparently the source article- other sites reference it. > [Update #26 Part 2 - Trayvon Martin Shooting - A year of drug use culminates in predictable violence... - The Last Refuge](http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2012/05/24/update-26-part-2-trayvon-martin-shooting-a-year-of-drug-use-culminates-in-predictable-violence/) I’m immediately dubious of any facts that originate on a blog, doubly so if it’s a self-proclaimed political blog. Triply so when the blogger cites his own online “research.” The OP’s question is “how accurate are these reports?” They’re the unsubstantiated ramblings of an anonymous blogger whose reporting consists of some overly-enthusiastic Google searches. In other words, completely unreliable. If you want unbiased information, go to the Miami Herald or the Orlando Sentinel or other new outlets with journalists who have gotten off the internet, out of their basement, and gone out to talk to relevant people, and do some actual investigative work. If you want titillating gossip and wild rumor, plenty of blogs like this one to fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-cough-syrup-junkie/623294/26 "2012-05-29T21:12:22Z")
I thought the drug in cough syrup was good ol’ ethyl alcohol, C2H5OH. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-cough-syrup-junkie/623294/27 "2012-05-29T21:41:05Z")
> [@IntelliQ](#): > > Ever drink NyQuil or taken codeine? The last thing you want to do is fight. (Personal experience taking both) Yes, I’ve taken both. I cited some of the side effects. Not proud of it but I yelled at some lady for cutting off another car years ago. Maybe it was because I felt like death warmed over. Don’t know. but I did cite some of the side effects so in theory they exist. But I haven’t heard it was in his system so at worst he’s talked about doing it on the internet. And that has yet to be proven. So the whole thread is a non-starter until facts say otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-cough-syrup-junkie/623294/28 "2012-05-29T22:49:22Z")
The source is garbage and unworthy of GQ. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-cough-syrup-junkie/623294.md?page=1)