The Energy Drink Revolution : Energy Drinks 103: Through the looking glass into your community

This story contributed by : John Lopez, North Inland Community Prevention Program and Vi Dupre, Fallbrook Healthcare District

The University of California’s official motto is “Let there be light.”

Our prestigious university system prides itself on illuminating its students on all aspects of life, thus equipping them with knowledge to make the best decisions for themselves and their community. In that respect, we have chosen to follow that philosophy with our awareness campaign on energy drinks.

To date, we have presented this issue from a global perspective. We have provided a foundation from which to begin a discussion on energy drinks and their presence in Fallbrook.

In an effort to acquaint ourselves with the current up-close situation on the ground, we have spoken with several community members and county residents who have worked in Fallbrook.

Our goal in this endeavor is to determine whether or not the subject of energy drinks – alcoholic and nonalcoholic – warrants the attention of the entire Fallbrook community.

When Phyllis Sweeney sees youth with energy drinks, she says she sees the early stages of chemical addiction. Sweeney, a certified grief and trauma counselor and Fallbrook resident of 27 years, claims that the withdrawal symptoms she has witnessed are as bad as withdrawal symptoms from Vicodin.

“I have seen 13- to 17-year-olds claim that they need these caffeinated drinks,” said Sweeney. When parents have forgotten or refused to buy their kids energy drinks they often come across one irritated teen.

“One child in particular went ballistic and lost it,” said Sweeney.

She also confesses that she has heard firsthand that Sparks, the alcoholic energy drink purchased by Coors in 2006, is the favorite among many of the teens she has come in contact with. Because she herself was not aware that Sparks contained alcohol, she would “estimate that

don’t know about Sparks either.”

Additionally, Sweeney does not believe that everyone is aware of the fact that nonalcoholic energy drinks have a nutrition label, as required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while their alcoholic counterparts are not regulated by the FDA and, therefore, do not post a nutrition label.

Sweeney explains that “there is a certain trust factor that comes from the advertising of these drinks. It creates a false sense of awareness for parents that needs to be addressed, because they really don’t know what their kids are drinking.”

Gloria Colemar, community manager of Summeridge Apartments and a member of the Fallbrook Crime Prevention Committee, agrees with Sweeney’s claim that there is a lack of awareness in Fallbrook.

Being an apartment manager, Colemar has youth in her complex and has witnessed the appeal of these drinks and their alcoholic twin in the hands of teens in her apartment community. At the time, she did not know that what [the kids] were holding contained alcohol.

She said, “It’s very easy to get confused. They look so similar; you can pick them up without knowing they are alcoholic.”

Indeed, without knowing every single brand available, and without being within inches of the can, it is almost impossible to decipher the contents of a can while covertly wrapped in the hands of a person.

Matthew Hydar of the San Diego County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC) adds to both Sweeney’s and Colemar’s testimony.

He said, “Parents don’t understand that these things could have alcohol. They know what a Budweiser looks like; however, they see a can of Tilt and turn a blind eye thinking it’s a kid’s drink.”

As a member of the Law Enforcement Task Force on Youth Access to Alcohol, Hydar is familiar with the problems associated with underage drinking as well as the future potential implications these drinks will have if communities do not educate themselves on this growing predicament.

In Hydar’s view, education should be far reaching from youth, to parents, to educators, to store clerks.

In a single incident last August, Hydar reports “busting a couple of 16-year-olds walking out of a convenience store in Fallbrook with an 18-pack of beer.”

Naturally, this begs the question: if an apathetic store clerk allowed underage minors to purchase a blatant alcoholic beverage, how much easier would it be to purchase a not-so-obvious alcoholic beverage?

In addition to the potential social problems of underage drinking, Dr. Graydon Skeoch, emergency room director for Fallbrook Hospital, reports that “it’s safe to say that one of these [nonalcoholic] drinks contains three to four times the stimulant effects of a can of cola.”

Although he admits that he has never personally seen an alcoholic energy drink, Dr. Skeoch has seen his share of problems associated with nonalcoholic, dangerously over-caffeinated patients. He has treated patients in the 16- to 30-year-old age range for anxiety attacks and irregular heartbeat.

“Approximately 60 percent of those treated oftentimes had taken some type of stimulant and more often than not had taken, like, four Red Bulls,” he said.

Dr. Skeoch affirms that he “probably sees 10 to 15 of these cases per month, and that is a conservative estimate.”

An excellent example of this would be Patrick, a paramedic who wishes to keep his real identity and the name of the agency he works for anonymous.

Patrick just recently went back to work after being out on medical leave for two months. He was suffering from irregular heartbeat caused by drinking too much caffeine.

“I would start my day with two to three cups of coffee, and when I would get fatigued during a long day, I would drink an additional two to three Rockstar or Monster energy drinks.”

Patrick testifies that a combination of too much caffeine, not enough water and long hours caused his heart rate to be thrown into an irregular rhythm.

Like Sweeney, Dr. Skeoch also equates the popularity of this trend to the marketing strategies of the drink manufacturers. What starts as the message to use these drinks to party all night bleeds over into the idea of being “wired” all day to help cope with the stresses of everyday life.

Dr. Skeoch advises that “drinking six Red Bulls is bad” and feels that these drinks have turned into “a white collar drug that provides the drinker a physical and psychological high similar to methamphetamine.”

Based on Dr. Skeoch’s observations, is it accurate to say that energy drinks can be viewed as a gateway drug in our communities? Are young teens really drinking multiple caffeinated drinks a day? Do the issues of teen caffeine dependency added to the issue of underage drinking truly exist in our community?

It does seem from these testimonies that there is an overall lack of awareness in Fallbrook. Therefore, we are asking the community to inform us.

We have shared with you what we know and what we have uncovered and would like to extend an invitation to set the record straight. An anonymous survey has been created and can be accessed at http://www.nicpp.org. We urge all citizens to view and take the survey.

The results of the survey will be analyzed and reported in a following article: “Energy Drinks 104: From the horse’s mouth.”