Outrage over Cocaine energy drink, Jim Beam chips
September 29, 2008 – 7:26 pmFirstly, the Queensland Consumer Association is enraged that an energy drink called Cocaine will soon be available in Australia (it’s already in stores in the US and Britain).
The association’s state secretary Max Howard said calling a drink Cocaine is just wrong and trivialising an illicit drug is unethical. He’ll seek advice from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as to whether the beverage can be marketed in Australia.
It’s madness people! First you drink an innocent glass of milk, then you graduate to a glass of Cocaine and before you know it your snorting powder off a toilet seat in Kings Cross!
We can’t put all the blame on Cocaine though. Until 1903 Coca-Cola (or Coke) had nine milligrams of cocaine per glass. Surely that, it’s irresistable red cans, and the fact it’s called Coke is the reason our kids are turning to drugs?
It doesn’t stop at the soda giants either.
Drug groups and outraged parents say Jim Beam-branded chips (which do not contain alcohol but are bourbon whiskey-flavoured) are promoting alcohol to kids. However, a spokesman for Jim Beam said the chips were not marketed towards children and were intended to be sold mostly in bottle shops.
Unlike Cocaine there are some legitmate concerns here, but I wouldn’t worry too much. John Della Bosca has a plan.
News Ltd writes he’ll argue for a ban on alcohol advertising at a national ministerial council meeting in November.
Ban. Ban. Ban. Problem solved. No?
12 Responses to “Outrage over Cocaine energy drink, Jim Beam chips”
Just a bit of history…
It should be noted that according to many sources the original recipe for Coca-Cola included cocaine and I quote from Wikipedia..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola#Coca_-_Cocaine
“Pemberton called for five ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, a significant dose, whereas, in 1891, Candler claimed his formula (altered extensively from Pemberton’s original) contained only a tenth of this amount. Coca Cola did once contain an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per glass, but in 1903 it was removed. Coca Cola still contains coca flavoring.
After 1904, Coca Cola started using, instead of fresh leaves, “spent” leaves – the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process with cocaine trace levels left over at a molecular level. To this day, Coca Cola uses as an ingredient a cocaine-free coca leaf extract prepared at a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey.
In the United States, Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant. Stepan laboratory in Maywood, New Jersey, is the nation’s only legal commercial importer of coca leaves, which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agent for Coca Cola, Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis, Missouri pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use. N.J. Stepan buys about 100 metric tons of dried Peruvian coca leaves each year, said Marco Castillo, spokesman for Peru’s state-owned National Coca Co.
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It was only in the early part of the 20th century that many of drugs once considered legal became illgal and even during that century drugs once used as remedies by the medical have been prohibited.
There are indeed medicinal purposes for many drugs prohibited today including the marijuana plant.
Bob
By Bob Bain on Sep 29, 2008
You Fool! Do you think we are all this simple to turn milk in such simple steps into a powder and asume it is cocaine the ilicit drug? “Maybe it’s Melamine”. BE SMART DO THE DRINK .
By JJ Aldi on Oct 3, 2008
Ummm. I think you missed the point JJ Aldi
By Mike on Oct 3, 2008
No i think you have missed the point dont you think ? Gateway to drug addiction: Official Chart above Mr Mike… Cocaine Energy Drink is just a name. BE SMART DO THE DRINK! http://www.drinkcocaine.co.nz
By JJ Aldi on Oct 3, 2008
JJ Aldi, As a paid shill you really should read what you are commenting on. You just don’t get satire do you. Cocaine may just be a name but if you are any indication of what is does to a person, I don’t want it. Calm down take a deep breath and THINK for two seconds.
By Stevian on Oct 3, 2008
@Stevian: His American comrades handled it okay – they even linked through to this page and published the ‘chart’ on the official Cocaine website.
JJ Aldi: Seeing as you are not reading the article, you should know myself, a group of 656,000 concerned mums, and 675 ex drug addicted sheep (now turned to God) will be protesting your drink launch in NZ and Australia.
By Mike on Oct 3, 2008
From an ABC poster ad I note that the program “Review” to be aired tomorrow night 16th. October 2008 on ABC2 at 9.30 pm may cover the topic of cocaine…
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/review/
“While other critics waste time with trivial matters such as film, food or art, Myles dares to review all facets of life – our experiences, our emotions, our deepest, darkest desires – to rate them out of five stars.”
I believe the program on the 16th. October may also cover “sex with a prostitute”.
By Bob Bain on Oct 15, 2008
hi guys. i think you have better things to do in your life than this. Seriously calm down take a few minutes to just think. This stuff does not make kids want to do drugs or have any negative affect. The people who are proving your nonsense talk right are stupid. Now we can not protect all the stupid people in this world, we are still animals and it is the survival of the fittest.
By james on Jan 12, 2009
ummmm…go to cocain’s website and you will notice that the creator of the drink does NOT in any way wish to condone drugs…its just a name…do you really think that kids will do cocain because it is the name of an energy drink? i know i wouldnt…but i might try this drink some day
By a 16 year old kid on Mar 24, 2009
Look people im 12 turning 13 its just a name it does not impact on what kids think or do your all just over reacting so stop wasting all your time and energy and put it into somethig worth while like stopping adults who are selling drugs to kids plus the creator of cocain is against drugs so just drop it
By Rhece on May 9, 2009
Well done everyone. Make a huge fuss. Protest heaps. Give them more publicity. Add to the ‘cool’ factor because you are making such a fuss. You’re making the hype work even better. It’s what they want you to do.
Think about this. In Australia-
* alcohol misuse costs the Australian community 15.3 billion dollars each year when factors such as crime and violence, treatment costs, loss of productivity and premature death were taken into account
* 51% of alcohol consumed is drunk at levels that pose a risk of short-term harm
* over 3 000 Australians die each year as a result of harmful drinking
* over 450 000 children (13.2%) live in households where they are at risk of exposure to binge drinking by at least one adult.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics lists the number of deaths where cocaine is mentioned, between 1997 to 2004, in the 15 to 54 age bracket, at a grand total of 194 over 7 years. So that’s 27 per year against 3,000. Hmmm. And the drink doesn’t even have cocaine in it. Maybe its cool to die from alcohol.
But Hey! Keep protesting over a soft drink. Good way to spend your time and energy.
By Harii Bandhu on Jun 3, 2009
They’ve just gone too far this time.
For many people, energy drinks are mis-named in that while they do create some immediate energy, they leave your body worse off than in the beginning. It’s really hard to find one that will do the job but is actually healthy for you and has the research to prove it. I found one such exception.
I doubt most will buy it, because it’s not found in stores and doesn’t come in a bottle- but I’m not concerned with what most people do.
At 52, I find this stuff amazing and now that I found it, I kind of feel sorry for the masses that won’t go past their store isle to find something really exceptional.
This was just released in Sept 1st of this year.
http://focusuponline.com
By winspire on Sep 25, 2009