Alcoholic Energy Drinks
What are Alcoholic Energy Drinks (AEDs)?
- Alcoholic Energy Drinks are prepackaged beverages that contain alcohol, caffeine, and other stimulants.
- AEDs can also be made by combining an energy drink with a distilled beverage.
- AEDs have become more popular, paralleling the popularity of non-alcoholic energy drinks. There are now more than 500 energy drinks and more than 30 AEDs on the market.
- AEDs can contain: caffeine, guarana, glucuronolactone, taurine, wormwood, and other stimulants as well as a high alcohol content.
Health and Safety Risks
Caffeine can reduce a person’s sense of alcohol intoxication (i.e., “feeling drunk”) but the impairments to judgment and reaction time associated with drunkenness are not reduced. This effect increases risks of engaging in violent or other high-risk physical behaviors, particularly among youth.
Marketing
- The marketing of AEDs appears to be directed primarily at young people.
- AEDs are packaged to look like nonalcoholic energy drinks by using containers with similar sizes, shapes, and graphics.
- Makers of Alcoholic Energy Drinks have marketed their products through social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
- Alcoholic Energy Drinks are often priced similarly to non-alcoholic energy drinks.
- Makers of AEDs promote partying and heavy drinking.
Reducing the Risks
Regulatory and educational efforts are taking place at the local, state, and national level. Products from MillerCoors and Anheuser Busch have been voluntarily pulled from the market per agreement with the State Attorneys General's Office.
The State Attorneys General's Office has been taking action to encourage regulatory intervention with this matter. The FDA is now investigating the safety of AEDs.
Resources
It is possible to help raise awareness about AEDs in your community. In this section, you will find:
- Posters
- News Articles
- Resolutions
- Ordinances/Statutes