EINNEWS, November 19— The U.S. government may think it’s banning alcohol-caffeine drinks, but the drinks’ users, especially college students, think otherwise.
From around the U.S., reports are coming in of the drinks flying off shelves before they can be returned to distributors. A popular YouTube video shows people how to make their own. Facebook pages and Twitter messages are buzzing with resistance.
At issue are a class of drinks that combines up to 2 to 3 times the alcohol content of beer with the caffeine jolt of a large Starbucks coffee. Many call it a “blackout in a can.” The drink has been a big hit on college campuses. So big, that overuse has actually been linked to deaths and hospitalizations from coast to coast.
Federal and state lawmakers have been calling for the Federal Food and Drug Agency to take action, and on Wednesday it did, ordering drink makers to remove the caffeine or face total bans and confiscation. The Federal Trade Commission took action against it as well.
Students are responding by mixing conventional energy drinks, many of which are caffeine-based, with caffeine tablets and malt liquor.
For more beverages news, visit Beverage Industry Today (http://beverages.einnews.com), a beverages media monitoring service from EIN News.
