“I’m going crazy ‘bout it. I’m going codeine crazy” said Future in his song, “Codeine Crazy”.

It is lines like these that lure people into the seemingly harmless codeine, also know as lean, purple drank and sizzurp.

“Drugs known in hip hop music, like lean, [are] being portrayed as a harmless substance when [they are] some of the most harmful things you can put into your body,” junior Emmet Smith said.

Despite its non-toxic portrayal, lean is an incredibly dangerous drug that can depress the central nervous and respiratory systems, which can lead to lung and heart failure, according to USA Today’s Kim Painter.

To combat the gross misconception about lean, Smith takes to a special type of activism: pen and paper drawing.

Smith likes to draw images that call attention to issues that he feels are important but overlooked.

“I’ll cover stuff like the tobacco industry, guns,” Smith said.

For as long as he can remember, Smith has been drawing. He draws simple, quick drawings with witty captions that can comment on social issues.

Smith, who began drawing at Canyon Elementary School, spent a section of every day drawing a scene that the teacher described.

“That creative environment really helped me get into art,” Smith said.

When he was younger, Smith felt pressure to draw the way all the other kids drew: detailed and neat.

“But then I grew up and found hip hop and punk rock and street art, and that showed me that there is more than one way to view art and more than one way to make art,” Smith said. “It inspired me to keep on making things that I make, that kind of off-brand art.”

Since elementary school, Smith has found inspiration from other non-traditional art forms.

“I’ve been very influenced by skateboard artists, street artists, tattoo artists, kinda the underbelly of the art world,” Smith said. “The genres of art that you don’t technically need talent to make art per se.”

Smith has specifically been influenced by street artists like Neckface and Sean from Texas as well as hip hop music and culture.

“[I am influenced by] the artists I listen to like Wu Tang Clan, Tupac, Future,” Smith said.

Junior Ian Dickson, who sits across from Smith in their Art III class, often observes Smith working and the two bounce ideas off each other.

“He has a very different style from most people,” Dickson said. “He has his own dark humor.”

Smith uses this dark humor to draw attention to social issues.

“If you paint something ugly or normal looking people won’t pay attention to it,”  Smith said. “So, if you paint something that catches the eye, people will pay attention to it”.

Junior Annie Pellegrini enjoys the passion that Smith shows through his artwork.

“He’s addressed some problems like drugs, capitalism and consumerism,” Pellegrini said. “It’s interesting, they are big problems to tackle.”

However, even larger than combating social issues, art is a way for Smith to express himself.

“There’s always a lot of stuff jumbling around my head and art is a way for me to see those thoughts outside of my body,” Smith said. “It’s a way for me to see the things that inspire me too and put them down on paper.”

One of the key things that stands out about Smith’s art is how genuine it is, art teacher Gillian Bailey said.

“What I really appreciate about Emmet’s art is that it is really authentic to him,” Bailey said.