A friend of mine was seeking newspapers throughout the country to run ads in and came across this article in the Mercury News in Santa Fe.
QUOTE -- `Store sells 'Cocaine,' till callers snort 'no'
By Sharon Noguchi
Mercury News
Energy drinks, loaded with sugar, caffeine and vitamins, cater to sleep-deprived students and athletes. A $2.19 can of Cocaine, produced by Las Vegas-registered Redux Beverages, claims to have 18 grams of sugar and 350 percent more caffeine than Red Bull, a popular energy drink which has 80 milligrams of caffeine. A cup of coffee may have from 115 to 175 milligrams of caffeine. A throat-numbing ingredient is added to the drink to emulate its namesake. Controversy has followed Redux since it introduced the drink last month in New York and Los Angeles’. END QUOTE
There are those who might argue about this particular soda, which comes in a red can and is labeled Cocaine, instilling a need for the real stuff. I’ve never used drugs, so I’m speaking through people who have.
350% more caffeine than Red Bull—a drink that advertises it contains nearly as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. This new drink contains 3 times the amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. The high stimulated by this energy drink could very well set off a craving in a teen’s system for the type of constant high cocaine delivers. Did Redux Beverages ever hear of cravings, aka jonesing?
I know of two teens who recently lost their jobs after both drank three cans of Red Bull and went to work higher than proverbial kites. They weren’t accustomed to the sort of stimulation given by the drink, so they danced up and down the aisles of the supermarket they worked in and sang and otherwise carried on like fools—all caught on tape. Therefore, how can beverage companies claim to produce a beverage that affords an energy high when teens lose control over a few cans?
And pray tell, what are these energy highs they keep pushing? Does that mean you can party all night, drink a few cans and you’re good to go? Hell no. Look at the effects of hard core drugs on addicts in this country now. Energy high my butt. Addicts cease to function on a normal level and drop out of society because their bodies are rendered useless by drugs. So let’s feed teens—and adults too—a soda pop with the end results being out of control teens who are eventually rendered useless.
As is this isn’t enough, a throat-numbing ingredient is added to Cocaine to emulate its namesake. Wonderful. Anyone ever had an esophagus or stomach scan? It’s done by first numbing the throat to kill your gag reflexes before tubes are inserted. Doctors warn patients not to smoke and to be extremely careful until the numbing effects wear off. Without the ability to gag, it’s possible to choke to death on your own saliva.
The name of the game by Redux Beverages is obviously greed. They’ve come up with a drink that will sell like hotcakes because real cocaine is illegal. You can get locked up for buying, using and distributing cocaine. However, they’ve managed to beat the system by making a beverage with a hot new name that’s guaranteed to sell their product while imitating the effects of an illegal substance. God Bless Free Enterprise…
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Reviewed by Evan Hart (Reader)
Reviewed on November 26, 2006
A few things:
-Your math and/or reading skills are lacking. The drink contains no more caffeine than two cups of coffee. How many people around the nation down two cups of coffee or a Venti cup of joe from our beloved Starbucks in a morning? I daresay millions. This drink contains no more caffeine than in said beverages.
-Your "high teens losing jobs" point is embarassingly, for lack of a better word, stupid. Do your research. Caffeine will NOT get you high. It is a central nervous system stimulant that promotes the rapid metabolization of simple sugars. It will make you feel more energetic for a short period of time, but will not affect your mental composure in any way, shape, or form. These kids, if that was not a false story made up for the purpose of your article, were being stupid. Caffeine does not inhibit judgement or awareness in any way. Get your facts straight.
-Furthermore, an acute stimulant such as caffeine will not set off cravings for an amphetamine. It's just not going to happen.
-In regards to the "throat-numbing" tangent, you once again are overstepping the boundaries of your knowledge. You want to know the "throat-numbing ingredient" used in Cocaine? It's a pepper extract. Highly dangerous. Be careful when you're seasoning your mashed potatoes. You could end up craving illegal drugs.
-So the name of the game is greed? Or is the name of the game capitalism? Redux has made a product that sells. The product is treated as a novelty, not a drug, and people like you, fussing over every little detail, malinformed nonetheless, are simply giving them MORE FREE ADVERTISING!!! Talk to Redux. Ask them how much money they've spent marketing Cocaine. The grand total? $0. How much free airtime and printed press coverage have they received as a result of people throwing hissy-fits over their product? Millions upon millions upon millions of dollars in free marketing. Case in point? My mother has even heard of this product. Now THAT is effective marketing.
The best form of protest against this product? Crawl under a rock and don't say anything about it. They thrive off your press.
Reviewed by Negunda Blue (Reader)
Reviewed on October 27, 2006
Although one cannot applaud their poorly associated name, it takes a giant leap in imagination to believe a adolescent will utimately become "useless" merely by drinking a caffeine containing beverage. If this was true in adults we would largely, as a nation, be useless as a majority of us consume caffeine on a daily basis. Let's try to keep the scope on relevant information, not jump illogically around on our uninformed pogo-sticks.
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-Your math and/or reading skills are lacking. The drink contains no more caffeine than two cups of coffee. How many people around the nation down two cups of coffee or a Venti cup of joe from our beloved Starbucks in a morning? I daresay millions. This drink contains no more caffeine than in said beverages.
-Your "high teens losing jobs" point is embarassingly, for lack of a better word, stupid. Do your research. Caffeine will NOT get you high. It is a central nervous system stimulant that promotes the rapid metabolization of simple sugars. It will make you feel more energetic for a short period of time, but will not affect your mental composure in any way, shape, or form. These kids, if that was not a false story made up for the purpose of your article, were being stupid. Caffeine does not inhibit judgement or awareness in any way. Get your facts straight.
-Furthermore, an acute stimulant such as caffeine will not set off cravings for an amphetamine. It's just not going to happen.
-In regards to the "throat-numbing" tangent, you once again are overstepping the boundaries of your knowledge. You want to know the "throat-numbing ingredient" used in Cocaine? It's a pepper extract. Highly dangerous. Be careful when you're seasoning your mashed potatoes. You could end up craving illegal drugs.
-So the name of the game is greed? Or is the name of the game capitalism? Redux has made a product that sells. The product is treated as a novelty, not a drug, and people like you, fussing over every little detail, malinformed nonetheless, are simply giving them MORE FREE ADVERTISING!!! Talk to Redux. Ask them how much money they've spent marketing Cocaine. The grand total? $0. How much free airtime and printed press coverage have they received as a result of people throwing hissy-fits over their product? Millions upon millions upon millions of dollars in free marketing. Case in point? My mother has even heard of this product. Now THAT is effective marketing.
The best form of protest against this product? Crawl under a rock and don't say anything about it. They thrive off your press.
Life should be the high, not stimulants.
Good article.
Elizabeth