Alcoholic Energy Drinks, What Are the Dangers?

Posted by Tony Bylsma on August 9, 2010 under Drug Abuse Prevention Education | 2 Comments to Read

Energy drinks have been a phenomenal popular trend for years. Red Bull, Rockstar, Monster and Amp, are constant caffeine and sugar charged companions to every grocery and convenience store check-out line.

The exploding popularity of energy drinks is not something the alcoholic beverage producers could ignore for long. Several years ago, energy drinks with alcohol added began to show up in stores, most with packaging that made them hard to distinguish from the ‘regular’ energy drinks.

Combining the stimulant effects of caffeine and guarana, with the depressant effects of large amounts of alcohol creates problems in addition to those produced by each drug separately, namely:

1.  Because of a caffeine induced belief in one’s own alertness, there is the false impression of sobriety. Caffeine may lessen drowsiness, but it does not counteract or even lessen the way in which alcohol affects judgment, reaction time and coordination. Those alcoholic effects will persist until the body has completely metabolized the alcohol.

2.  Because of the effects of the caffeine, a drinker can continue drinking beyond the point at which he or she would normally pass out, increasing the possibility of alcohol poisoning.

3.  An effect of mixing caffeine with alcohol, is a lessened sensation of being drunk. The User feels less impaired than he or she really is. This increases the incidence of driving drunk and other risky behaviors.

In truth, caffeine does not mitigate impairment from drinking. Blood alcohol level is the real determining factor.  If you drink four ounces, you will be impaired just as badly as someone who drank four ounces along with two Red Bulls—they just won’t feel as impaired with the extra caffeine.

Most of these products hover around 6% to 9% alcohol by volume (ABV). But a few, including Four-Loko, put out by Phusion Projects Inc. of Chicago, run over 12% ABV.

Definitely enough to keep it in the hard alcohol section of the liquor store.

At this writing, the practice of adding caffeine to alcoholic drinks is the subject of some serious congressional questions and a probe by the FDA into the manufacturers of these drinks.

Pressuring retailers to keep alcoholic beverages clearly separated from the non-alcoholic varieties, and forcing breweries and distilleries to label their products so they cannot be mistaken for non-alcoholic will go a long way toward lessening the negative effects of these drinks.

But in the end, only by making sure that young people are aware of the dangers of drinks that mix stimulants with alcohol can we completely counter the corporate push to get these beverages into the hands of our youth.