Energy Drinks: The New Gateway Drug?
I remember the days when the D.A.R.E officer would come into my school and warn about the dangers of smoking and drinking as they were the gateway drugs to hard illegal ones.
It now appears that certain people are pushing to add energy drinks to the list.
According to the LA Times, Roland Griffiths from John Hopkins University, has recently published a paper outlining the dangers of energy drink consumption. He also had 97 addiction experts sign the paper and then he sent it to the US Food and Drug Administration calling for federal regulation of energy drinks.
He believes that energy drinks should be considered gateway drugs and that kids who consume them will be more likely to use illegal drugs in the future.
He refers to a study performed last March (which we wrote about here on energy fiend) that claimed college students who drank energy drinks were more likely to engage in risky behavior.
I think more research is needed before this kind of assumption can be made about energy drinks. The original study only looked at 795 students which isn’t large enough to draw conclusions about the dangers of energy drinks.
Also, I think people who are inclined to have an addictive inclination tend to go overboard on everything like caffeine, alcohol, and eventually perhaps harder drugs, but energy drinks aren’t the cause of this behavior.
What do you think? Do you think energy drinks should be considered a gateway drug and restricted by the government?
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16 Comments
I really wanted to say they were from satan, but I find this kind of serious, and that they are not indeed a gateway drug, or really a drug at all. Kids can get hooked on soda and candy just as bad.
IIRC, most respectable studies found that marijuana wasn’t a gateway drug either (in fact, there may be no such thing).
It makes sense when you look at drug using populations. x million users of substance a. y million users of substance b. If a were a gateway drug, why is x >>>>>> y?
This is insane! If they are willing to make a huge deal about the “negative” health effects of energy drinks, that is extremely hypocritical. I think there are quite a few things that are worse for you than energy drinks (i.e. Twinkies) that will never be regulated. Furthermore, only SOME energy drinks are bad for you! Several health companies put out energy drinks that are 100% natural! Caffeine has recently been proven to have several beneficial effects, ranging from sports performance to heart disease. How about they concentrate on a real problem, say alcohol abuse… or better yet oxygen? I hear everyone that has a drug problem has inhaled oxygen before… Better add it to the gateway drug list!
i’m with jw on that. i almost voted the satan one just for a laugh.
[...] Caffeine the Gateway Drug [...]
Sure caffeine is an addictive substance. Then add in all the yummy sugar and kids will habitually drink energy drinks. The same has been true of soda for years.
I do not think that this makes it a gateway drug, nor so I believe that there is a strong difference between soda and energy drinks.
The idea of gateway drugs is silly in the first place. What, so If I smoke pot when I’m 15, by the time I’m 20 I’ll be hooked on crack?
+
marijuana shood be legal. the government shouldn’t have a say what u do with ur body. it would stop most of gang violence too.
I don’t know if you can call energy drinks gateway drugs. But I do know that you can get hooked on them and they do have serious affects on your health. They are bad for you, the tauriene in them is bad for your liver, that much I do know. But that isn’t my point, they are highly addictive just like pop/soda can be. A lot of kids, teens and college students do get hooked on these and do not realize what they are doing to themselves until it’s too late when the damage has already been done. I know of a few first hand who have serious medical issues now because they were addicted to these energy drinks for the longest time.
Yea energy drinks are addictive and bad for you. However, who gives a crap. Cigarettes and alcohol are way worse and theyre legal. Lets just put an age limit on energy drinks. That’s what I think the dudes upstairs should do. My opinion.
Rofl.
You can prove anything you want from a select group of people.
I could go to Wal-Mart and grab 100 of the door greaters. GO have their IQ tested. Then write a paper showing how All Wal-Mart employees have a lower IQ.
And there’d be idiots who believed me.
There is already a age limit on energy drinks in a lot of states, most of them its 16. I did come across one in Colorado who wouldn’t sell to anyone under 18. That might of been a personal store choice though.
its not a gateway.. its a lift.
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? IT’S NOT WRONG TO GET ELEVATED BY CAFFEINE :[
well i think this is retarted im 13 and i drink moster along with other energy drinks and i have no problem in fact theres no change at all i drink them because they tast good. every one acts as if its a drug but its not for example i drank one during school lunch the other day and my teacher picks it up talks to another teacher points to a drug free sign and then gives it back thats just stupid if caffeine is a drug then why are they just upset about energy drinks you can get just as hyped up by drinking soda or coffie and theres also candy pluse it should be the parents resposability to tell the kid no if they dont whant them to drink it
i know first hand caffine is addictive, im an addict myself, but i think it keeps kids off drugs. my friend was trying 2 quit weed and booze, so i showed him energy drinks. now the only drug in his system is caffine,a hell of allot(same 4 me XD) but it keeps kids kleen. and many kids use them as anti-drugs. honestly ,would u rather seee ur kid with a red bull or a bong??
READ THIS. I DARE YOU.
I don’t believe that energy drinks are equivalent to soda, nor do I believe that they should be considered “gate-way drugs”.
What I do believe is that there could, more like SHOULD be regulations such as a set ratio of milligrams of caffeine per liter of liquid. This is mostly becuase the number of heart attacks caused by caffeine has SCIENTIFICALLY been found to have increased in young patients. (see: http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/04/29/red-bull-gives-you-wings-gives-your-kids-heart-attacks/ ) These studies aren’t a bunch of BS, they are created by people who have gone to school/college for a frickin lot longer than I bet everyone else who has posted on this subject and they know a thing or two about how to conduct a study that is accurate. Thus, I disagree that 795 students isn’t enough to draw a conclusion from a study. I’ve read several studies that were published with less than 50 participants and the conclusions were not deemed unscientific or lacking evidence.
Also, and this is mostly talking to commenters, just because there are worse things out there doesn’t mean that drinking energy drinks can be considered GOOD for you. It’s just not AS BAD as weed/cocaine/alcohol/etc.
Everyone needs to set their own limits on what “bad” things they are going or are not going to do. And you need to stick to them. Be smart, figure out for yourself what these energy drinks do to you cuz I sure as hell don’t want you doing stuff or not doing stuff JUST becuase someone told you to (except for parents/those in positions of authority over you). That doesn’t mean you should ignore everything others tell you, it means that you have to be smart enough to know when you don’t know, and humble enough to admit it and perhaps take some advice from other people than yourself for a change.
As with any substance on this earth, it’s only a gateway drug if you’re a gateway person.
I bet Roland Griffiths had a cup of coffee or two when he was publishing that “paper”.