Alcoholic Energy Drinks

Energy drinks are all the rage right now, with everyone from college students, to parents, to hardworking employees drinking them for a little extra energy. While the health risks and benefits to some of these drinks may be debatable, a new kind of drink is going through much scrutiny right now. Alcoholic energy drinks are common among young people, but we should be aware of the dangers of these drinks.

Four Loko looks like your typical energy drink, but it is found with alcoholic beverages. It’s cheap ($2-$3 a can) and full of alcohol and caffeine. It comes in a variety of fruity flavors, and though it may look and taste harmless, there are some real dangers with Four Loko and other drinks like it.

Risks of Alcoholic Energy Drinks

The main danger with these drinks is the misconception that many people have that the caffeine will somehow cancel out the alcohol. Four Loko is 12% alcohol by volume; more than double the amount of a beer. When you drink one or more, you will become impaired, but the caffeine tends to mask the intoxicated feeling and lead people to think they are not drunk. The drowsiness associated with drinking one of these cans is covered up by the caffeine, and so is the feeling of lack of coordination. But someone that has had too much of this drink is no more ready to drive or make decisions than anyone else that has had that much alcohol. The danger is that people that drink Four Loko often miss the signals of being drunk, even when they are. When people combine alcohol with energy drinks, they are four times more likely to think they can drive home. But intoxicated is intoxicated, and no amount of caffeine can take that out of your system.

Regulating Alcoholic Drinks

The FDA is looking into Four Loko and other alcoholic energy drinks. Four Loko is still being sold, but because of recent incidents it has been banned at Central Washington University and New Jersey’s Ramapo College. Students at these schools were recently hospitalized for alcohol poisoning after drinking Four Loko.

Four Loko is not the only drink that combines alcohol with caffeine. Popular drinks like rum and coke or Irish coffee have been around for years without an uprising like is going on now. It is possible to drink beverages like these responsibly, just like any alcoholic drink. But many people have misconceptions about Four Loko and more and more continue to abuse it. We will most likely see a banning of this drink in the future because of its increased abuse.

Before consuming something, we should really know what is in it, and the risks associated with it. Unfortunately, an alcoholic drink like Four Loko is marketable to young people, who often drink without knowing the dangers. We all need to drink more responsibly.

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