First reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, JaMarcus Russell was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.  It doesn’t appear he will be able to shrug his way out of this.  Here are the details:

Former Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell was arrested today for possession of a controlled substance, according to the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office.

The substance was codeine syrup, spokeswoman Lori Myles said.

Myles said Russell was arrested at his home early this afternoon during an undercover investigation. He was booked into Mobile Metro Jail at 4:22 p.m. Russell was released minutes later after making $2,500 bail, according to online records.

This possibly could be the nail in the coffin for Russell in regard to his NFL career.

For those not familiar, “Sippin on Sizzurp” was something that became popular in the southern regions of the country.

Made popular by the late DJ Screw and by legendary rap ground Three 6 Mafia, in essence it is a recreational drug made by mixing medicated cough syrup containing codeine with soda.

It is now seen as a “Controlled Substance” similar to marijuana.  The difference being, no one has ever overdosed to my knowledge from weed, whereas you can from Sizzurp.  Pimp C from UGK is a perfect example of someone who OD’ed from too much Sizzurp.  So in that regard, it can be a very dangerous concoction if you become addicted.

The fact that Russell was caught in an “undercover operation” means that whatever he was doing, he had been doing for a while.  This wasn’t a random traffic stop where he was caught with something under the seat.  This was an investigation.

I am all for giving second chances, but you can’t help anyone who doesn’t want to be helped, and JaMarcus just doesn’t seem to get it.

In my opinion, he is a lost cause.

*UPDATE*

According to Jerry McDonald of the Bay Area News Group, there have been rumors for a while about Russell and the “Purple Drank.” My sources say that it goes all the way back to his LSU days … and he wasn’t the only one the team who might have been using.  Here is what McDonald had to say via PFT.com:

McDonald points out via Twitter, “Wish I had a dollar for every time I got an e-mail or a tip about Russell and prescription cough syrup.”

This is just my opinion from being in the music industry for a while and hanging around guys who abused “Syrup” regularly.  It isn’t something you just decide to do one day.  It is more of a down south culture, which leads me to believe that Russell could have been doing this for a while.