“an international group of scientists reports that inhaling the rich, warm aroma of a hot cup of joe may alter the activity of some genes in the brain, reducing the effects of sleep deprivation — no drinking required.”

As many others have already said…they don’t exactly hide the fact that this drink will pack a punch. Just look at the can. There are labels all over it indicating its alcohol and caffeine content. There are no cartoon characters on it or anything to make me think it is targeted to kids.

Don’t we have enough to worry about in this nation already? This is ridiculous.

BTW, was “most all of us” supposed to be “most of us”, “all of us” or “almost all of us”? “Most all” is contradictory. If it was “all of us” or “almost all of us”, I disagree.

Back in the day, we used to call LSD a “cognitive enhancer”. (OK, we might not have used those exact words, but that was the sentiment.)

I think a big part of the problem with these caffeinated energy drinks is just how caffeinated they are. Sure, people mix coffee and alcohol, or vodka and red bull, but not that many people mix a half bottle of vodka with a pint of double-strength espresso.

As someone who went through a phase of drinking Buckfast Tonic Wine (a popular caffeinated alcoholic beverage in the UK, also know colloquially as “Fight The World”), I can attest that there’s a big difference between this sort of stuff and just about anything else on the market. I may be in favour of drug legalisation, but I’m not in favour of selling heroin and meperedine in the same syringe.

You wonder how some people learned to not touch a hot stove? Accidental overdose is right near the top of the list of causes of death but we’re not banning everything in sight, just this stuff. Stuff is as good a compliment as it will get from me. Why do we ban it? Because aunt Judy buys energy drinks for her kids and had no idea energy drinks were dangerous ZOMG, we can’t have this confusing product on the market. People are too STUPID to make their own decisions, therefore Uncle Sam has to step in and take the product off the market. It makes you wonder why we still have table knives that will fit inside an electric socket… wait, never mind.

You just know there are a bunch of people in Moscow laughing to themselves over how soft and pampered Americans are. If this blows your mind, check this out: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CBsQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ajc.com%2Fnews%2Fgeorgia-politics-elections%2Flawmaker-wants-to-make-290204.html&rct=j&q=additive%20to%20make%20antifreeze%20taste%20bad&ei=ysPmTOexKImasAPjmpCxCw&usg=AFQjCNFlVbp_ianize7JgpXXda8YClLjsQ&sig2=wj34LcLS2nMmjuOkAEJ2kg&cad=rja

Yep, antifreeze is too tasty! ZOMG I bet it tastes better than Four Loko ! Maybe Four Loko should be poisonous?

Now, I don’t drink energy drinks with high amounts of caffeine — they scare me. The most caffeine I will have in a day is a couple 20-oz bottles of Coke, more often just a cup or two of green tea. But even if you are into these energy drinks, what is the point of mixing them with alcohol, other than to let you drink more than you normally could? The only other reason I could think of is if you are already addicted to these dangerously high levels of caffeine, and when you go out drinking.

The Red Bull and vodka mix is a good point to bring up. Yes, people will do this no matter the regulations. But beyond the controlled dosage issue (which I question the usefulness of if it is still a dangerous dose), why package this all up into a shiny can and give it legitimacy to young people who otherwise would avoid the vodka/Red Bull mixture. I think we need to take seriously the dangers of these cocktails, and evaluate how much of a risk we want to take with public health.

A good analysis of the studies on this is over here: http://blogs.plos.org/takeasdirected/2010/11/13/alcoholic-energy-drinks/

Still – I am working on getting methylphenidate (Ritalin) – as it has numerous benefits…

1. It’s a stimulant (amphetamine)
2. It increases learning plasticity in the amygdala

The added benefit is that it’s a cognitive enhancer, though being in the 9:10,000 bracket, do I really need this? Maybe it’ll push me into the x:100,000 bracket…

@3 As for dope… well… done my share, and even a couple of tokes on a joint isn’t really measurable or controllable. These days the THC content is so unpredictable, that you can’t get a ‘reliable’ dose. So I don’t bother – which is a good thing, ‘cos it stops me from going psychotic

The reason we addicts prefer to drink our caffeine is because it’s the easiest way to control the need for speed.

Once ya take a pill, that’s it – there’s no on/off switch. But when you’re drinking it, you know when you’re ‘there,’ and you stop.

Same thing with, say, cannabis. You do a few hits, get the high you want, and stop. But if you take a pot-pill, or even eat pot brownies, you can’t control how high you’ll get, and you have no choice but to wait until it wears off.