Five Busted In “Purple Drank” Scheme

The Iberville Parish Sheriff's office says five people with connections to a fraudulent prescription drug ring were busted using meds to make and distribute the street drug known as "purple drank."

Sheriff Brett Stassi says prescriptions were being sent out by nurses at the Prime Heath Medical Center without the doctor's knowledge.

"They were receiving money to call in the script information at a local drug store in Iberville Parish," said Stassi. "Some of the people who were filling the scripts had never even been seen at that doctor's office."

"Purple drank" or "lean" is a recreational drug made with the ingredients of prescription-strength cough syrup, and it has a street value of $40-$50 an ounce.

Stassi says the drugs being obtained for this crime were promethazine and codeine.

"This is a drug they use to mix with coca-cola," said Stassi. "They also use hand-rolled cigars with marijuana in it, called blunts, that they dip in this substance. And when it dries, they smoke it."

Stassi says more arrests are expected. He says "purple drank" has a big following with rappers that like to party with it.

Stassi says these five people face extremely serious drug and fraud charges, and he says he wants to spread the word that this type of activity is not acceptable. He says it's a shame that nurses were involved in this.