Coming Soon to a Store Near You: Cocaine!

[Katana]

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/9807451522ae95c5b.jpg (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1592)

The 8.4 fluid ounce energy booster has no actual cocaine in it, but it does contain 280 milligrams of caffeine. According to the company's Web site, the only way to get more caffeine per ounce is with an espresso.

"It's just a bad idea and has all the same downsides of too much caffeine plus a very bad name," says Dr. Charles O'Brien a professor and vice chairman of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.

The beverage is marketed to give a person a "high" coupled with a tingly euphoric feeling within five minutes of drinking it. That initial boost is followed 15 minutes later by an energy buzz that will last five to six hours, according to the company.

Kirby claims Cocaine is "350 percent stronger than Red Bull" but that people do not experience the "sugar crash" or jitters that he says some of the other energy drinks can produce.

The Secret Formula?

Kirby confesses that a "throat-numbing" ingredient is added to the drink to emulate its namesake, but he won't divulge the identity of that add-in, saying it's confidential.

The company isn't hiding from mixing Cocaine with alcohol. On the drink's Web site, www.DrinkCocaine.com, it posts a variety of alcohol and Cocaine combinations.

Kirby, who says the world is ready for a beverage named after an illegal drug, has been surprised by the lack of controversy over the name of the drink. (my bold)

Link to Story (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2459718&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312)

The world was ready for a beverage named after an illegal drug? I never knew.

I'm very curious to know what the "throat-numbing" ingredient is. I'm wondering whether it is some kind of topical anesthetic, many of which end with -caine coincidently. I would think that they would have to include a warning, though. Chloraseptic throat strips have benzocaine and warn people not to use it if they have an allergy to it and other "-caine" anesthetics.

This is what the website has for a warning:

WARNING - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! Side-effects are associated with this product - Extreme amounts of energy!

*Warning - this beverage should be consumed by responsible adults
Failure to adhere to this warning may result in excess excitement, stamina, fun and possible feeling of euphoria.

Keep in mind - This product may not be suitable for children, pregnant women and anyone sensitive to caffeine.

Well, it is different.

[Mephisto]

Unbelievable!

This is even worse than the bubble gum cigarettes I had as a child! I can't believe that this is some marketing genius's idea of good packaging. I suppose America might also be ready for HEROIN - the injectable candy you cook & shoot (spoon not included), METH - for a quicker, picker upper and OXYCOTIN - See the world through Rush's eyes.

[schplurg]

Umm...too late? A beverage named after an illegal drug already exists:

http://www.coca-cola.com/

[bob_kark]

Its about time they finally did something with all those extra bottles of Cheerwine.

[TjW]

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/9807451522ae95c5b.jpg (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1592)
<snippage by TjW>
The world was ready for a beverage named after an illegal drug? I never knew.


Presumably, you meant a second beverage named after an illegal drug.

ETA: Ah, I see schplurg beat me to it.

[slingblade]

I'd try one.

I see from the picture it has a lot of Red #40 in it. Some people can get jazzed on that, alone. I once watched my ADD son bounce off the walls for more than 4 hours after having one glass of red fruit punch.

[drkitten]

I'm very curious to know what the "throat-numbing" ingredient is. I'm wondering whether it is some kind of topical anesthetic, many of which end with -caine coincidently. I would think that they would have to include a warning, though. Chloraseptic throat strips have benzocaine and warn people not to use it if they have an allergy to it and other "-caine" anesthetics.

Me too. At the very least, they need to put something in the ingredients list, and I doubt the FDA would accept "throat-numbing ingredient."

[Pauliesonne]

I'd be up for it.

[KelvinG]

It's a shame the good name of cocaine should be sullied by a silly energy drink. It's too bad someone can't sue.

[HeyLeroy]

"I really don't enjoy cocaine, but I do love the smell!"

I forget whose joke that was, and I don't even know if it's relevant in any way, but it was top-of-mind.

[Pauliesonne]

"I really don't enjoy cocaine, but I do love the smell!"



I feel the same way about Maryjane.

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Unbelievable!

This is even worse than the bubble gum cigarettes I had as a child! I can't believe that this is some marketing genius's idea of good packaging. I suppose America might also be ready for HEROIN - the injectable candy you cook & shoot (spoon not included), METH - for a quicker, picker upper and OXYCOTIN - See the world through Rush's eyes.



What's the problem?

[The Mutha]

But Officer! I asked for Cocaine! NOT cocaine.... I swear, it was a misunderstanding. You can't arrest me! I'm an innocent man.

[KingMerv00]

Unbelievable!

This is even worse than the bubble gum cigarettes I had as a child! I can't believe that this is some marketing genius's idea of good packaging. I suppose America might also be ready for HEROIN - the injectable candy you cook & shoot (spoon not included), METH - for a quicker, picker upper and OXYCOTIN - See the world through Rush's eyes.

Why so upset?

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Maybe Mephesto is one of those hardcore anti-drug people who think candies or soft drinks named after illegal drugs (that shouldn't even be illegal) is a travesty and will surely hurt the children somehow and cause actual drug use (ignoring the fact that caffeine is a drug) to skyrocket!

[bigred]

Unbelievable!

This is even worse than the bubble gum cigarettes I had as a child! I can't believe that this is some marketing genius's idea of good packaging. I suppose America might also be ready for HEROIN - the injectable candy you cook & shoot (spoon not included),In this day and age, sure why not? Glorifying dangerous drugs makes sense to me! (and many others, obviously) Don't forget some white candy called "crack" too, whoo hoooooooo

:boggled:

[KingMerv00]

In this day and age, sure why not? Glorifying dangerous drugs makes sense to me! (and many others, obviously) Don't forget some white candy called "crack" too, whoo hoooooooo

:boggled:

Jeez, another one? You and Meph are seriously upset. How many six-packs did you have?

[GodMark2]

Kirby, who says the world is ready for a beverage named after an illegal drug, has been surprised by the lack of controversy over the name of the drink.

So... let me get this straight:

1) He thinks the world is ready for a drink named Cocaine
2) No one is complaining about the name
3) He is suprised that no one is complaining

Um... wouldn't that mean that the world really was ready? I guess this guy must be suprised about being right.

[OMGturt1es]

Unbelievable!

This is even worse than the bubble gum cigarettes I had as a child! I can't believe that this is some marketing genius's idea of good packaging. I suppose America might also be ready for HEROIN - the injectable candy you cook & shoot (spoon not included), METH - for a quicker, picker upper and OXYCOTIN - See the world through Rush's eyes.

i miss the candy cigarettes! i loved those things. they were fun, and they tasted great. i wish they were still around now.

and, i've never smoked a cigarette in my life.

thing is, if people don't like the product, they won't buy it. if there is a problem, the problem will fix itself.

[jimlintott]

Illegal drug?

Wouldn't I be able to find cocaine at a hospital pharmacy? It has legitimate medical uses and can be possesed perfectly legally.

There are plenty of drugs that are illegal in some circumstances and legal in others.

Pretty smart name. Creates controversy and interest. I'll bet some of us will be looking for it and may try it. I don't do energy drinks. If I need energy I'll stick to a large black coffee and a snickers bar.:)

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Illegal drug?

Wouldn't I be able to find cocaine at a hospital pharmacy? It has legitimate medical uses and can be possesed perfectly legally.

There are plenty of drugs that are illegal in some circumstances and legal in others.

Pretty smart name. Creates controversy and interest. I'll bet some of us will be looking for it and may try it. I don't do energy drinks. If I need energy I'll stick to a large black coffee and a snickers bar.:)


I'm pretty sure that it's completly illegal here in the USA. I don't think it can be used medically or not.

[Beerina]

Unbelievable!

This is even worse than the bubble gum cigarettes I had as a child!

You can still get candy cigarettes. I just saw them for sale, but it was out in the countryside.

[gtc]

So... let me get this straight:

1) He thinks the world is ready for a drink named Cocaine
2) No one is complaining about the name
3) He is suprised that no one is complaining

Um... wouldn't that mean that the world really was ready? I guess this guy must be suprised about being right.


Possibly disappointed there wasn't more free marketing (sorry, I meant complaints).

The news last night said it would be banned in Australia.

[KingMerv00]

Possibly disappointed there wasn't more free marketing (sorry, I meant complaints).

The news last night said it would be banned in Australia.

Why banned? The name?

[xenxabar]

Wouldn't I be able to find cocaine at a hospital pharmacy? It has legitimate medical uses and can be possesed perfectly legally.

You are correct, sir.

Cocaine can currently be administered by a doctor for legitimate medical uses, such as a local anesthetic for some eye, ear, and throat surgeries. Source: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/cocaine/index.html#legislation

[Dustin Kesselberg]

From that same site...

Marijuana has the potential to promote cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract because marijuana smoke contains 50 percent to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/marijuana/index.html#healtheffects


We all know how accurate this claim is....

[gtc]

Why banned? The name?

I would say so.

All I saw was a promo for late night news. I can't find anything on line to confirm the story, so I might have spoken too soon.

[xenxabar]

From that same site...



http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/marijuana/index.html#healtheffects


We all know how accurate this claim is....
Ok, but what does that have to do with the legality of cocaine?

[joobie]

cocaine is a federal schedule 2 drug in the US, meaning that (http://www.dea.gov/pubs/csa/812.htm) (paraphrased) it has legitimate medical use but has the potential to be highly addictive.

source (http://www.dea.gov/concern/cocaine.html#2)

[LawnOven]

Holy Crap that stuff is red, and looks non-carbonated?

Does naming an energy drink "Cocaine" seem trite to anyone else?

[KingMerv00]

Holy Crap that stuff is red, and looks non-carbonated?

Does naming an energy drink "Cocaine" seem trite to anyone else?

Trite? Yes. X-treme to the max? Yes.

I'm still not getting why Meph and Big red are upset?

[Mycroft]

The world was ready for a beverage named after an illegal drug? I never knew.

Wow! I can hardly wait until I can buy a 64 ounce drink of this stuff at the soda fountain at our local Quick Trip!

[LawnOven]

X-treme...


There should be a constitutional amendment banning that word from the English language.



...:)


The two you mention are probably upset because it's easy, to have an irrational opinion of drugs based on the irrational drug policy in this country. You experience enough "anti-drug" propaganda, and maybe it gets to you. Or maybe its an anecdotal experience with "the effects of drug use".

But I have no clue, maybe they will respond.

The "war on drugs" (and maybe "terrorism" at this point) are, in my opinion, the closest thing we have to a state religion, meaning, the policy is at odds with reality and its vailidity must be, and is, largely accepted on faith.

[ponderingturtle]

Wow! I can hardly wait until I can buy a 64 ounce drink of this stuff at the soda fountain at our local Quick Trip!

That sounds like a recipie for a heart attack

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Let me get this straight...Marijuana has no medical uses but cocaine does in the USA?

[LawnOven]

Let me get this straight...Marijuana has no medical uses but cocaine does in the USA?


That's right hippy. Think of all those power buisness yuppies with action hair coke helped rocket to success in the 80's. What did marijuana ever do? Allow some hippies to be lazy, make crappy jam band music and smell?

;)

[Mycroft]

I don't see this as being any different from Opium perfume, one of my wife's favorites.

[ponderingturtle]

That's right hippy. Think of all those power buisness yuppies with action hair coke helped rocket to success in the 80's. What did marijuana ever do? Allow some hippies to be lazy, make crappy jam band music and smell?

;)

I belive cocaine is still used as an anesthetic in eye operations to be specific as to its medical uses

[Orangutan]

plus a very bad name
This is from a "Vice" Chairman???
Oh the Irony!
:)

[Katana]

The latest on the newest energy drink gimic:

DALLAS - Convenience-store operator 7-Eleven Inc. is telling franchises to pull a high-caffeine drink from its shelves because of the product's name: Cocaine.

The company acted after getting complaints from parents of teens, who are a big part of the drink's target audience.

"Our merchandising team believes the product's name promotes an image which we didn't want to be associated with," said Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman for 7-Eleven.

Cocaine comes in red cans, with the name spelled out in what are meant to resemble lines of white powder.

This isn't the first time Cocaine has been yanked. Some stores in the New York area pulled the drink after local politicians complained. It's all part of the company's plan to stand out in the fast-growing energy drink market.

"We knew the name was going to be provocative," said Kirby, whose husband, James, created the drink.

Kirby said the company wasn't glorifying an illegal drug in the eyes of its young consumers. "Kids understand the difference between a controlled substance and an energy drink," she said.

Apparently, their parents and some politicians don't think that they do.

Link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15411444/)

[Charlie Monoxide]

When I was up in Canada last Summer in Cambridge near Toronto, I was drinking "Hemp" beer at a local bar. A very tasty draught with lots of pots motifs on the label. Apparently hemps seeds are used the brewing. Just the usual "beer high" after 5 or 6 ....

Charlie (legalize hemp now) Monoxide

[Ian Osborne]

Trying to make the product appear trendy by associating it with a narcotic has the knock-on effect of making the narcotic appear more acceptible too, and that can only be a bad thing.

I wonder if anyone will sue under the Trades Descriptions Act (or similar in the States) because there's no cocaine in the product?

[Darth Rotor]

I'm pretty sure that it's completly illegal here in the USA. I don't think it can be used medically or not.
A controlled substance is not an illegal substance. LSD, on the other hand, is simply an illegal substance with no current medicinal use (http://www.recovery.org.uk/druginfo/index.html). Cocaine has medicinal uses. (http://www.answers.com/topic/cocaine)

Today it is used as a topical anesthetic in the eye, nose, mouth, and throat; for injection anesthesia it has been replaced by synthetic drugs with fewer central nervous system effects.

DR

[ponderingturtle]

A controlled substance is not an illegal substance. LSD, on the other hand, is simply an illegal substance with no current medicinal use (http://www.recovery.org.uk/druginfo/index.html). Cocaine has medicinal uses. (http://www.answers.com/topic/cocaine)



DR

Interestingly you can make something an illegal substance and block all possible medical uses for it, by citeing that there are no current medical uses for it. So you make any study of its potential medical uses illegal, and that solves the problem of having it ever have medical uses.

[Darth Rotor]

Interestingly you can make something an illegal substance and block all possible medical uses for it, by citeing that there are no current medical uses for it. So you make any study of its potential medical uses illegal, and that solves the problem of having it ever have medical uses.
PT, if you recall the history of LSD, it was a psychoactive drug developed for particular purposes (IIRC as a "Truth Serum" for interrogations) that was eventually found to have side effects that made its practical application of dubious value balanced against the safety of patients. DMT was likewise developed as a psycho active drug, and IIRC Ecstasy, with the hopes of utility in the psychiatric field.

These drugs haven't all lived up to their early promise. Some other psycho active drugs have.

DR

[Katana]

Trying to make the product appear trendy by associating it with a narcotic has the knock-on effect of making the narcotic appear more acceptible too, and that can only be a bad thing.

I wonder if anyone will sue under the Trades Descriptions Act (or similar in the States) because there's no cocaine in the product?

Cocaine is actually a stimulant rather than a narcotic as is caffeine. The distinction is important because this company is pushing (the drink) Cocaine's use as a mixer with alcohol, a depressant.

I know a lot of people like Red Bulls and vodka, but I wonder whether it's such a good idea. Drink a lot of stimulant so you don't feel tired from drinking too much alcohol, but fatigue is one way to know that you have had too much to drink. What happens when the stimulant wears off and you're left with a big dose of depressant?

[bozothedeathmachine]

X-treme


There should be a constitutional amendment banning that word from the English language.

I agree. I think every couple of decades there should be a marketing mulligan called and everything had to reset. "Cooler Ranch" chips go back to just being "Cool", anything "X-treme" or "Max"-ed is reverted to normal, and all packaging, in its neon seizure-inducing vibrance is brought back to white-box-with-black-writing.

ETA: </derail>

[Ace_of_Sevens]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine

Accordign to Wikipedia, about 250 mg of caffeine will cause an acute overdose. This has 280 per can and many people will drink more than one, I'm sure. I'm surprised the FDA allowed this.

[DRBUZZ0]

Actually....you *can* buy cocain from a chemical supplier. No...seriously you can.

It surprised me to see it in the catalog when I was stopping by my local chemical supplier to pick up some non-cocain items. It has legitimate uses, as a topical anastetic for eye surgury and also for synthasis of certain chemicals.


http://labdepotinc.com/Chemical_Details~pid~C2772.aspx


That is (quite literally) crack cocain. However, this site is based in the US, and there is a good chance they will want a DEA number and such things. It would not surprise me, however, if you could find a supplier which is less strict about things. Perhaps tell them you are a chemical resaler yourself?


Oh well....I don't use cocain..and I don't plan on it. It would probably be cheaper to buy it on the street anyway.

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Actually....you *can* buy cocain from a chemical supplier. No...seriously you can.

It surprised me to see it in the catalog when I was stopping by my local chemical supplier to pick up some non-cocain items. It has legitimate uses, as a topical anastetic for eye surgury and also for synthasis of certain chemicals.


http://labdepotinc.com/Chemical_Details~pid~C2772.aspx


That is (quite literally) crack cocain. However, this site is based in the US, and there is a good chance they will want a DEA number and such things. It would not surprise me, however, if you could find a supplier which is less strict about things. Perhaps tell them you are a chemical resaler yourself?


Oh well....I don't use cocain..and I don't plan on it. It would probably be cheaper to buy it on the street anyway.


If you wanted to buy Cocaine it would be much easier to simply get it off the street.