The energy drinks consumed by young people are getting a lot of attention in the press these days for good reason. As a psychiatrist who treats adolescent alcoholism and adolescent drug abuse, I believe that companies that target youth for their energy drinks are taking advantage of adolescents’ impulsive behavior and increasing their risk of developing adolescent alcoholism. Teen slang for energy drinks includes “liquid cocaine,” “canned blackout,” and “canned coke.”

Some of these products mix alcohol with high doses of caffeine. A 24-ounce can of one of these drinks contained up to 12% alcohol; triple the amount of alcohol in a 12-ounce light beer combined with the caffeine equivalent of several very strong coffee drinks.

Energy drink consumption has been associated with a number of adolescent deaths. Some of the deaths from drinking this type of beverage included deaths from automobile accidents (tragic example of underage drinking and driving) and an accidental shooting.

Energy drinks have also been associated with multiple cases of alcohol poisoning. In one particular incident, police found several teenagers passed out after a party and had to take them to a local hospital for treatment.

The stimulant effect of caffeine masks teens’ perception of how drunk they really are. Therefore, the risk is even greater for underage drinking and driving as well as staying up later and drinking even more alcohol. Also, since binge drinking in adolescence is how these beverages are consumed, alcohol poisoning is a real risk.

With the Food and Drug Administration threatening to ban one of these types of products from store shelves, the company took steps to remove the drink’s stimulant ingredients, including caffeine, guarana and taurine. However, this is not good enough and here’s why.

One of my patients, AT, who is 15 years old, went to a party and had 4 of these canned drinks and drank a lot of vodka. She ended up with alcohol poisoning and luckily she survived. The tendency to mix energy drinks with alcohol is very common in adolescent alcoholism. How much does this combination contribute to this disease?

In a recent research study of 1,097 college students, there was a significant association between frequent consumption of energy drinks and the development of alcohol dependence. This finding held regardless of race, genetics for alcoholism, socioeconomic status, depression, or a history of conduct disorder. Likewise, the earlier the consumption of energy drinks, the earlier the age of getting drunk and the more alcohol consumed in the last year.

teenage binge and binge drinking in college age is how these age groups consume alcohol. Energy drink companies market to these age groups by packaging their drinks in brightly colored cans, which is effective in attracting younger people to buy them. Since the original formula of the energy drink that mixed alcohol and caffeine is no longer available in stores, teenagers take it upon themselves to drink energy drinks that contain large doses of caffeine and combine them with alcohol; a potentially deadly combination.

The main risks of alcoholic energy drinks are increased risk of underage drinking and driving, alcohol poisoning, teen pregnancy, or development of teen alcoholism. Additionally, the long-term effects of high doses of caffeine on the developing brain are unknown. Mixing caffeine, which is a stimulant, with alcohol, which is a central nervous system depressant (calms the brain), masks how drunk a person really is, leading to “even worse decisions” than if the person had been drinking alcohol alone.